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From Acharam to Knowledge: Claims of Caste Dominance in Twentieth-century Malabar

Exploring the caste practices of Namboothiris (Kerala Brahmins) in the first half of the twentieth century, this article analyses the transformation of Brahminical claims of superiority over other castes, in interaction with colonial knowledge practices. The article maps the historical process by which claims of Brahminical superiority transformed from ritual to knowledge—from claims based on acharam (the daily practices of rituals) into a claim of possession of traditional knowledge. By analysing the upper caste world of Namboothiris, the article explores the tension between emerging order of colonial knowledge and the existing order of acharam. The article shows that until the reform movement in the 1920s, Namboothiris as a community were not part of either traditional or colonial knowledge practices. Even in the reform movement the attempt was not to wholeheartedly enter into the domains of knowledge but to incorporate the elements of acharam into the order of colonial knowledge.