Aliya-Santana (Nephew lineage)
Nephew
A son of one's brother
or sister,
or of one's brother-in-law or sister-in-law
Aliyasantana
(sister's son lineage) was a matrilineal system of inheritance practiced by the
Bunts and other communities
in the coastal districts of Karnataka, India.
Marumakkathayam,
in
Malayalam, was a similar system which was practiced by Nairs in the area known today as Kerala
Myth of origin
The story
behind Aliya Santana is very interesting.
·
It is said that very long ago Barkur
was called as “Baraha Kanya Pura”
@ 77 AD.
·
The King Bhootala Pandya had
twelve wives.
·
The king of demon, Kundodara Bhoota
demanded a “Bali” (Sacrifice) of king’s son when the
newly built ship was set out to sea.
·
Even though he had twelve wives and
lot of children they refused to give one.
·
Then his sister agreed to
sacrifice her son.
·
The demon Kundodara was impressed,
he not only spared the young boy’s life, but also ordered Bootala pandya to
follow the Aliya-Santana, where in all the property would be inherited
to his Nephew, and the laws of inheritance were written, as dictated by the
demon Kundodara.
Even today Aliya-Santana
is followed in Tulu-Nadu, or the undivided South Canara,
especially in Bunts community.
As opposite to
the tradition in Hindus, the Aliya Santana follows different tradition.
This is a
system of inheritance of property followed mostly by Bunts and other
non-brahmin communities in south canara which is complete opposite compared to
the system followed by Hindus.
It is also
referred as Ali-Santana (Kundapura Kannada) or Aliya-Kattu (Tulu),
Salient features
1)
The children are
part of the mother's family.
2)
After marriage the wife
would stay at her mother's place and husband would "visit"
her. For the Bunt
community, the wife would stay with her husband and return to live with her
matrilineal family after the husband's death.
3)
The inheritance of
lineage identity in the form of gotra
(bali or bari or balli or illam) or in the form of
ancestral house (tharavads)
through the mother. Marriage between the persons belonging to the same
illam was prohibited.
4)
Among the rulers the heir
apparent was the son of the sister. Examples are the Bunt Royal Houses
of Chowta,
Ajila,
Alupas
and the various Ballal,
Hegde
and Guthu feudal lords.
5)
The property of
the mother is divided among the children in such a way that female
children would inherit the major share depending upon number of
children they have. A son would get only his share. There were no clear
rules for the father's property. Probably, in the earlier times it might have
gone solely to nephew. However, it was observed in the later period even though
the mother's property distribution would always follow matrilineal inheritance
rules (sometimes at the expense of sons), father was free to distribute
his property according to his wish.
6)
Women had the rights to
divorce and re-marry.
7)
The maternal
uncle is generally the male head of the family and was known as Karanavar
in Malayalam,
gurikare in Tulu
or yajamana in Kannada.
Among Bunts, the brother would manage the matrilineal family land on behalf of
his sister.
Matrilineal communities
Tulu communities which practised a matrilineal system of inheritance
included:
Aliyasanthana system and Marumakattayam
(Kerala) are said to be the only systems of inheritance where the property
was passed down female line, giving property rights to women.
1.
The
reason behind this, according to many folk enthusiasts is that the Bunts in the
Taulava land and the Nairs in Kerala (who were prominently following Marumakattayam) were mainly the warrior
communities where the men stayed away from homes.
2.
Thus
the women took the whole responsibility of running the household
as well as guarding and taking care of sprawling properties. Women were
the decision-makers of the family. The system vested great
responsibility, reverence, respect, social standing and economic independence
to women of the communities following these systems.
3.
It
was due to this system that maternal uncle was attached more importance than
paternal uncle and surnames from maternal side was adopted with
the mother’s ancestral family name being a prefix or suffix to the name of the
an individual.
4.
In
Aliyasanthana, the eldest member was called ‘Yejaman’ and
the eldest female member was called ‘Yejamanthi’.
5.
The
senior-most member whether male or female, is entitled to carry
on the family managements.
6.
No
member of the family had a right to claim partition or separate
possession of his share without the concurrence of other members.
7.
But
the law was changed by the Marumakkattayam Act and Aliyasantana Act.
8.
A
member was given a right to separate himself or herself from the
joint family and claim partition.
Marumakkattayam System Vs Aliyasantana System
# The only
vital difference between the two systems is that in Aliyasantana system, the senior most member whether
male (ejaman) or female (ejamanthi) is entitled to carry on the family
management
while in Marumakkattayam system the senior
most male member (karnavan) has the right and power to carry on the
family management and in the absence of male adult members the senior most
female member (karnavathi) has the power to carry on family management.
# As per
judicial decisions the self acquired property of a female member in Marumakkattayam system descended to
her Tavazhi, i.e. to her own issues and in default of her issues, it
devolved (transferred) to her mother and her descendents. In case of male
member if the property has not been disposed during his lifetime, lapses to the
tarwad (joint family) and forms part and parcel of its property.
While in Aliyasantana system there is no distinction as to the
devolution (transference) of property of a male or female member. The self
acquired property of a member goes to the nearest branch, and where there are
more branches than one standing in the same degree of relationship,
they inherit jointly.
Views And Criticism
After studying the two systems it is
clear that the systems were part of very few of the traditional systems that
gave women liberty, and right to property. Under these systems, women enjoyed
respect, prestige and power
Conclusion
Since the inception of the mankind women has been discriminated against and being subservient (Submissive or Obedient) by the male dominant society. The Marumakkattayam and Aliyasantana system were the only systems prevalent in India which provided property rights and ownership to women as against men. But these two systems were abolished by the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System (Abolition) Act, 1975. There was no concrete reason given by the Kerala Legislature before passing this act, but it clearly culls out that the only intention of this act was to expressly repeal the custom of giving property rights to the women and it vested property rights in the hands of men, as prevalent in rest of the country.
Since the inception of the mankind women has been discriminated against and being subservient (Submissive or Obedient) by the male dominant society. The Marumakkattayam and Aliyasantana system were the only systems prevalent in India which provided property rights and ownership to women as against men. But these two systems were abolished by the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System (Abolition) Act, 1975. There was no concrete reason given by the Kerala Legislature before passing this act, but it clearly culls out that the only intention of this act was to expressly repeal the custom of giving property rights to the women and it vested property rights in the hands of men, as prevalent in rest of the country.
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