From the Scullery to the Stage: On Educating and Constructing Pativratas

Abstract

Defining gender is an essential aspect of patriarchal discourse and in Kerala, literature has played a pivotal role in fashioning the notion of the ideal woman in the 19 th century. This paper attempts to analyse two vernacular texts published during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Kottarathil Sankunni’s Aitihyamala (a popular compilation of legends) and Kallingal Chathunni Vaidyar’s Pativratha Dharma Shatakam ( a long poem) which  prescribe rules pertaining to both public and private spheres enabling  an ideal woman to  assume her role in society. They are evidently the result of an attempt at the  construction  of a tradition of homogeneous values in formation of womenhood among the various castes through education. The agenda  to create and enforce  a brahminical value system which exercised strict control over the women who were the custodians of chastity and extend it to include the  women belonging to the other castes is examined here.