FII interviews present a deep conversation with the celebrated author and historian Manus Pillai. He is widely known for offering an interesting perception of history, which is mixed with a complex combination of power, culture and individual agency. Pillai is widely known for his meticulous research and his appealing storytelling, which makes it possible to understand how history has played a major role in understanding gender roles in modernity and the lessons that can be understood from the past.
Pillai used to work as a staff chief at Dr. SHASHI THAROOR and worked with the BBC Incarnation History Series and the House of Lords in Great Britain.
Pillai has a wide range of books, the first, the ivory throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore, who speaks about Lakshmi Bayi’s life in Travancore, a critically recognized book that received the Saitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in 2017. And the Italian Brahmin offers a piece of history through anecdotes. His next book, false Allies (2021), speaks about the life of the princely state ruler during the British Raj, especially with the patronage of Raja Ravi Varma. The latest book, gods, weapons and missionaries (2024), examines the history of Hinduism during a colonial encounter with European Christian powers.
Source: Manus Pillais website
The extensive selection of literature literature further provides Pillai’s unique ability to integrate historical research into accessible stories that enables you to understand a diverse past that is relevant for today and age.
In an interview with FII, Manu discusses the investigation of gender dynamics with an honest understanding of history.
Fii: They often emphasize the importance of understanding of the historical context and the avoidance of centuries -age interpretations. How do you dissect and understand the historical gender dynamics in a sensitive way?
Manus hand: I don’t know if “empathy” is the word I would use. It has more to do with looking for a feeling of historical completeness. For example, can we fully understand the history of mankind if we women cannot “see” and the role they play cannot “see”? Female figures and voices are often marginalized in the archive plate and do not jump out easily. But with some critical thinking, attention to detail and by actively looking for you, we can read between the lines, find elements, miss the older generations of historians, ignore or release or form a round picture. I think there is now also a confirmation that women’s voices were excluded – for example, in my first book it was clear to me that his protagonist, a political personality, was actively written by history and transformed into a temporary footnote by a key personality. I think it is a healthy feeling of skepticism about existing stories to understand the historical gender dynamics.
Female figures and voices are often marginalized in the archive plate and do not jump out easily. But with some critical thinking, attention to detail and by actively looking for you, we can read between the lines, find elements, miss the older generations of historians, ignore or release or form a round picture.
Fii: In view of their emphasis on the recovery of marginalized voices, what interested them, including women, they were interested in bringing the lesser known stories in the Kurtisan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahminen?
Manus hand: Part of it is a result of personal interests. I try to find somewhat rash topics in general or even with popular topics to analyze them from a new lens or a new perspective. With women in history, the stories are so fascinating at the beginning: a Devadasi who builds up a drama company in the nineteenth century; a tawaif that becomes the eighteenth warrior and ruler; the feeling of contradiction and resistance patriarchal norms that they find in the Bhakti poetry of Janabai in the 1300s; the way women were presented (and sometimes deleted) in art; and so forth. Such topics always appeal to me. Finally, a purpose of the historical investigation is to discover details that most have forgotten.
Source: Amazon
Fii: Their work emphasizes the strength and resilience of women in many historical contexts. How do you navigate through a presented female agency and at the same time rely on patriarchal restrictions that women have gone through in different eras?
Manus hand: Nothing in the past can be understood by simplified ideas. For example, the junior Maharani from Travancore, Sethu Parvathi Bayi, can be perceived as feminist icon from a lens. She invited Margaret Sanger to talk about birth control, and she traveled through the world when her marriage did not hesitate to live separately from her husband despite the invited criticism, and she finally became the power behind her son’s throne. But she also marginalized her sister, the Senior Maharani, could be vengeful and unappealing and was not very popular with her people. This means that as a woman in a world of men, it is much interesting when a political figure is very polarized – and both are connected. Part of it was certainly a episode of Patriarchate who, because of their gender, restrict what they could and what they could not. But she could clearly resist. She was not terribly “personable”, but on the other hand, hard women are still “liked” today.
Fii: Historical figures or movements are often romanticized, and this ignores the gender -specific realities of history. How do you portray an honest understanding of history and your dynamics through your books?
Manus hand: Through questions. Romantization on one level is inevitable because we all like a good story. But a decent historian also has to stop by and understand the context in which these female figures lived, and the conditioning with which they were confronted, and then try to struggle their minds and actions.
But a decent historian also has to stop by and understand the context in which these female figures lived, and the conditioning with which they were confronted, and then try to struggle their minds and actions.
Fii: The matrilineal successor system was based on the power to go through the female line, as explained in her book The Ivory Throne. How did it come about more complicated and stronger Sethu Parvathi Bayi’s need for power?
Manus hand: On the one hand, thanks to the matrilineal system, SPB exceeded its husband – a situation that amazed observers from elsewhere in India. Technically speaking, he was unable to take a place in her presence without her permission. In practice, things were of course more complicated and he tried to make them playing the dutiful woman. Likewise, thanks to the same matrilineal system, she was always a step under her cousin and rival, Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, and became annoyed. Ironically, it was the birth of a son – the male heir – who allowed Sethu Parvathi Bayi greater importance.
Source: Platform Magazine
Matriliny allowed her training and considerable freedom and agency, but contested her direct power due to her rank in the family. However, the birth of a son gave her control over the back seat and she would prevail the boy. This invited considerable criticism, but Sethu Parvathi Bayi was a determined woman.
Fii: As a historian, what are some, how did historical stories silence women to silence or marginalize?
Manus hand: I often gave the example of Khunza Humayun, the Queen of Ahmednagar at the end of the 15th century, who ruled this state for a few years when her son was a minor. In the strange miniature painting she represented, she was later deleted – which literally turned into a blob. This was not only marginalization, but also the effort to get them out of the picture both visually and in terms of political memory. It was probably also a result of conservative views that were frowned upon in Purdah in art. So the lady ruled and held power and played a historical role, but the social customs found how much of their posterity could see and remember.
Fii: What are the most important blind spots in history that delete the contribution of women in the social reform? Which research areas are crucial for historians?
Manus hand: This is a wide topic and there is no way. One thing that always amused me is how male reformers of the nineteenth century often gave lectures on women’s rights, but hesitated to enact them at home with their spouses and female relatives. Of course, there are exceptions such as Jotiba Phule who supported his wife Savitribai, who enables her training and enables you as a partner for his reform activities. We also fought examples like Rukhmabai, the doctor who rejected the man she had to marry as a young girl, and despite the slut shame and worse in the press. These stories often exist on the edge and good researchers can be discovered by a close, critical reading of the material.
Source: scrolling
Fii: What advice can people offer who understand the history of history academically and understand gender dynamics?
Manus hand: Keep your eyes open, ask questions and do not buy uncritically into the wisdom received.
Nikitha Sudhir is a journalist who is driven by a passion for the curating of meaningful stories and at the same time navigates by a space dominated by men. Instead of holding out the problem, it made it possible for her to develop her feminist identity. With the articles published in Gulf News, the Khaleej Times and in campaigns in the Middle East, they are trying to challenge prejudices and to obtain inclination through their articles.