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³ The Malayalam-speaking state of Kerala, created on 1 November 1956 as a result of the linguistic reorganization of the states, included all but the four southern most Tamil-speaking taluks of Travancore; six of its present fourteen districts were part of erstwhile Travancore.Google Scholar

⁴ Gould, Harold A., ‘The Emergence of Modern Indian Politics: Political Development in Faizabad. Part I: 1884–1935’, The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 12, 1 (1974), pp. 20–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵ Francis Robinson, ‘Nation Formation: The Brass Thesis and Muslim Separatism’, ibid., 15.3 (1977), p. 216.

⁶ Paul Brass, ‘A Reply to Francis Robinson’, ibid., p. 234. For an elaboration of this theme see my ‘“Democracy” under the Raj: Separate Representation and Elections in British India’ The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 30, I (1992), pp. 39–64.

⁷ Dumont, Louis, Homo Hierarchicus: An Essay on the Caste System, translated by Sainsbury, Mark (Chicago, 1970).Google Scholar

⁸ Jeffrey, Robin, The Decline of Nayar Dominance, Society and Politics in Travancore, 1847–1908 (London, 1976), p. 265.Google Scholar

⁹ Bayly, Susan, Saints, Goddesses and Kings. Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society 1700–1900 (Cambridge, 1989), p. 459.Google Scholar

¹⁰ In the November 1989 Lok Sabha elections 79.33 percent of the electorate voted and in the March 1987 state assembly poll the turnout was 80.50 percent. These statistics are derived from returns published in the Cochin edition of the Indian Express and the Coimbatore edition of The Hindu.Google Scholar

¹¹ Census of India, 1901, vol. 26, pt 1, p. 13;Google Scholar and Census of India, 1941, vol. 25, pt 1, p. 11.Google Scholar

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¹⁷ SMPAP, 14 (1918), App. B, pp. x–xvii.Google Scholar

¹⁸ In the politically eventful 1920–1924 period Nair lawyers actually outnumbered Nair landlords.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Many of the associations that came into being in this period were of an ephemeral character but among the more important and sustained were the Travancore and Cochin Christian Association (fd. 1898), the Ezhava' Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalna Yogam (fd. 1903), the Keraliya Nair Samajam (fd. 1905), the Nambudiri Yogakshema Sabha (fd. c1906), the Pulaya' Sadhu Jana Paripalna Sangham (fd. 1913), the Nair Service Society (fd. 1914), the Lejnathul Mohamadiya Sangham (fd. 1915) and the Malabar Catholic Congress (fd. 1918). For a discussion of the emergence and subsequent development of these associations see my Ph. D. thesis, ‘Social Change and the Development of “Modern” Politics in Travancore: From the Late Nineteenth Century to 1938”, University of London, 1985, chs 2 and 3.Google Scholar

²⁰ Padmanabhan, Mannathu, Ente Jeevitta Smaranangal (Changanacherry, 1964), pp. 30–4.Google Scholar

²¹ Madras Mail, 12 June 1918.Google Scholar

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²³ Travancore Civic Rights League, Caste and Citizenship in Travancore No. 2 (Kotayam, 1919), p. 4.Google Scholar

²⁴ One Quilon weekly (Kerala Chandrika, 16 September 1919) commented: ‘When British India runs, Travancore crawls’.Google Scholar

²⁵ TAR, 1921–1922, pp. xi–xii.Google Scholar

²⁶ The 1919 Government of India Act provoded for at least 70 percent of the members of the provincial legislatures to be elected and for two or three elected councillors to be appointed ministers with control over ‘transferred subjects’ such as local self government, education and health. Report of the Indian Statutory Commission, vol. 1 (London, 1930), pp. 133, 151–2.Google Scholar

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³⁰ Madras Mail, 5 March 1921.Google Scholar

³¹ Important Papers connected with the Students Strike, August–September 1921 (bound volume), Kerala State Archives, Trivandrum.Google Scholar

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³³ Madras Mail, 29 April 1922 and 21 Jan. 1925.Google Scholar

³⁴ TAR, 1921–1922, p. 40.Google Scholar

³⁵ Membership list, Travancore Legislative Council Proceedings (hereafter TLCP), vol. 1.Google Scholar

³⁶ Report of the Election Commissioners on the election petition presented by K. I. Joseph, Legislative Section File no. 83/1923, TGR; and Travancore Law Journal 24 (1934), pp. 31–2.Google Scholar

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³⁸ Ibid.

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ Baker, Christopher John, The Politics of South India 1920–1937 (Cambridge, 1976), ch. 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴¹ Ibid., p. 154.

⁴² Madras Mail, 27 May 1925.Google Scholar

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⁴⁴ Madras Mail, 3 June 1928.Google Scholar

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⁴⁶ Madras Mail, 18 Oct. 1925.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Madras Mail, 22 Aug. and 15 Sept. 1926.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Speech by the Dewan, , Watts, Maurice, SMPAP, 24 (1928), pp. 138–9.Google Scholar

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⁵⁰ Madras Mail, 6 Aug 1928.Google Scholar

⁵¹ TAR, 1932–1933, pp. 16–17, 93–4.Google Scholar

⁵² The Regulations and Proclamations of Travancore, vol. 7 (Trivandrum, 1934), p. 136.Google Scholar

⁵³ See statement by Chacko, I. C., a leader of the Travancore State Catholic Congress, in the Dasan, 26 Nov. 1932.Google Scholar Quoted by Kusuman, K. K., The Abstention Movement (Trivandrum, 1976), p. 28.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Almost two-thirds of the increase in the ellectorate between 1928 and 1931 was accounted for by Nairs. TAR, 1927–1928, pps. 80–1;Google Scholar and TAR, 1930–1931, pp. 86–7.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ The Christian Political Conference, the State Catholic Congress, the Latin Mahajana Sabha, the South Travancore Christian Association, the Kerala Christian Service League, the SNDP Yogam, the Muslim Service League, the Lejnathul Mohamadiya Sabha and the Hidayathul Islamia Sabha. All-Travancore Joint Political Congress Executive Committee, Travancore: The Present Political Problem (Calicut, 1934), Appendix V, p. 70.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Ibid., Appendix X, p. 114.

⁵⁷ Ibid., pp. 59–62.

⁵⁸ Weekly Secret Bulletin (hereafter WSB), vol. 2, para. 201 (17 August 1935), Kerala State Archives, Trivandrum.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ An extraordinary general meeting of the Yogam at Changanacherry did so by 1491 votes to 9. JPC, The Present Political Problem, pp. 240–1.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Census of India, 1941, vol. 25, pt 1, p. 131: and List of Societies, Dewan to the Agent to the Governor General, 10 July 1936, Confidential Section File no. 1092/1936, TGR.Google Scholar

⁶¹ JPC, The Present Political Problem, pp. 61–2.Google Scholar

⁶² Ibid., Appendix XXX, pp. 242–4.

⁶³ Madras Mail, 27 June 1933.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Membership lists, Sri Mulam Assembly Proceedings, vol. 1, and Sri Chithra State Council Proceedings, vol. 1.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ TAR, 1935–1936, pp. 100–1.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Ibid.

⁶⁷ WSB, vol. 3, paras 254 and 267 (12 and 24 Oct. 1936).Google Scholar

⁶⁸ A deputation from a Nair Vigilance Committee submitted a memorandum expressing these fears to the Dewan, Sir Aiyar, C. P. Ramaswami. Madras Mail, 8 Nov. 1936.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ WSB, vol. 3, para. 273 (2 Nov. 1936).Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Malayala Rajyam, 24 March 1937.Google Scholar

⁷¹ In one central Travancorean constituency, Karunagapalli-Kartikapalli, three Nair candidates contested the two seats thus aiding a JPC candidate to win one. Madras Mail, 9 April 1937 and 1 May 1937.Google Scholar

⁷² TAD, 1938, pp. 294–7;Google Scholar and TAR, 1936–1937, pp. 98–9.Google Scholar

⁷³ WSB, vol. 4, paras 88(3 April 1937), 108 (24 April 1937) and 111 (1 May 1937); Confidential Section File no. 1475/1937, TGR.Google Scholar

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⁷⁶ Chiriyankandath, ‘Development of “Modern” Politics in Travancore’, pp. 286–7.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Jeffrey, Robin, ‘A Sanctified Label—“Congress” in Travancore Politics, 1938–1948’, in Low, D. A. (ed.), Congress and the Raj. Facets of the Indian Strrggle 1917–1947 (London, 1977), pp. 457–8.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ Pillai, K. Raman, ‘The Significance of the 1987 Elections’, The Indian Journal of Political Science 50, 3 (1989), pp. 293–306.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ A definition encompassing the descendants of both post-Sixteenth century Catholic, and nineteenth and twentieth century Protestant converts.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Between 1893–94 and 1941 total circulation in increased from 4150 to 128,000 (i.e. from one in a thousand to one in fifty Travancoreans). This does not take into account multiple readship. TAR, 1893–1894, p. 157;Google Scholar and Census of India, 1941, vol. 25, pt 1, pp. 165–6.Google Scholar

⁸¹ The Travancore Labour Association was initiated in 1922 and the Quilon Labour Association in 1928. Chiriyankandath, ‘Development of “Modern” Politics in Travancore’, pp. 115–21.Google Scholar

⁸² Ibid., pp. 97–9.

⁸³ Ibid., pp. 199–203.

⁸⁴ This pre-post-independence continuum forms the focus the my current research.Google Scholar