It may look like a lousy water feature added by an incompetent architect, but Kamman Kulam, the small pond outside the Kollam district panchayat office, is a piece of history, in fact.
Only a small portion of the pond, a remnant of the Perinad Mutiny, a glorious chapter in the Dalit history of Kerala, exists now, that too in a neglected state. Despite repeated demands to protect the pond as a monument, a testimony to the 100-year-old Dalit uprising, it stays ignored and forgotten.
“You will find the Perinad Mutiny in many books, but the documentation of the events that followed has been missing. It can be a deliberate attempt to erase the memory of a subaltern resistance since there have been many such incidents. We want the pond to be preserved as a memorial, marking one of the major Dalit revolts in the State. It was a rebellion for basic human rights and freedom, not just a riot or mutiny as they call it,” says Kerala Dalit Federation president P.Ramabhadran.
The Perinad Mutiny, also known as Kallumala Samaram, was a massive agitation against the social oppression of the Dalits, especially women. During the time Dalit women were not supposed to cover their upper body and wore kallumalas made of beads, wood and stones instead of clothes. Women who dared to defy this dress code, a social marker of this inferiority, were attacked and humiliated. Aggrieved over the abuse and subjugation, the women decided to wear normal clothes much to the outrage of ‘savarnas.’
A meeting of Dalits to stop the practice was held, but the event turned violent when the participants were attacked, leading to a riot. Later, Ayyankali intervened in the issue and at a historical meeting held at Kollam, Dalit women broke free from the discriminatory custom by cutting their kallumalas using sickle.
“During the time many cases and counter cases were filed against both groups, leading to a legal battle. Some renowned lawyers from the then Kollam division decided to appear for the Dalits, but since they couldn’t pay the fee they were asked construct a pond in the city. They provided their service instead of money and that’s how Kamman Kulam was built,”says Cheriyil Sukumaran Nair, historian.
Reportedly, the authorities were unaware of the relevance of the pond when they decided to build government offices over it. That part of history was hardly recorded and by the time protests gained momentum, only a small slice of the pond was left. Currently, the faulty drainage system keeps filling the pond with filth and it shrinks to a mud puddle during the summers.
“It’s an example of how casually we treat Dalit history, but even now it’s not too late to preserve it,” adds Mr.Ramabhadran.
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