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‘Beriye elaam, beshya holam, kul korlam khoy
Tobuo Kina Bhatar Shala Dhomke Kotha Koy’
Translation: I came out and became a whore, blackened my kula (family), and even now this bastard of a husband is screaming at me. (Sen, 1979)
When we think of women in history, we tend to focus on the trailblazers, pioneers and trendsetters. But it’s time to focus on the women who never make it into the history books unless they are used as examples to illustrate social oppression. This is particularly the case with the women who married under Bengal’s repressive Kulin marriage system, and who receive little mention in history books beyond this victimization.
The Kulin marriage system
The Kulin system was a polygynous marriage system with roots dating back to the 11th century. According to a local legend, King Adisura is said to have invited five Brahmins from somewhere in present-day Uttar Pradesh to Bengal and called them Kulin Brahmins, i.e. Brahmins of higher rank/status. In the next century, King Ballal Sen is said to have invited the 56 descendants of these Brahmins to his court and formalized the Kulin system or Culinism. However, the veracity of this claim explaining the origin of the Kulin Brahmins is questionable doubtful.
These Brahmins were allowed to marry as often as they wished, as long as they did so within the agreed upon kinship rules. Within this system, it was considered a privilege for women and girls to be married to a Kulin Brahmin.
These Brahmins were allowed to marry as often as they wanted, as long as they did so within the agreed upon kinship rules. Within this system, it was considered a privilege for women and girls to be married to a Kulin Brahmin. Ideally, girls were married before puberty, as the prevailing belief was that marrying girls after puberty would bring terrible disgrace to the family.
Women and girls married under this Kulin marriage system remained with their natal families after marriage and for the rest of their lives. Children born from Kulin marriages would be raised by the women’s natal families. The husband would only visit her occasionally, if at all. Essentially, these were contractual marriages that allowed the Hindu father to fulfill his obligation to “marry” his daughters, but did not give the woman any rights within the marriage. Their marital rights and property rights (under the Dayabhaga system) remained unattainable for them.
One can only speculate about the systemic economic imbalance this would have created, as there is a lack of narratives about the lives of these women during this time.
This practice declined in the mid-19th century, reportedly due to a variety of factors, such as shifting societal priorities and changing economic systems. We can therefore assume that for about eight centuries there was a widespread practice of polygyny among men and hypergamy among women, with a whole category of women who were married but without a husband and living in their parents’ homes. One can only speculate about the systemic economic imbalance this would have created, as there is a lack of narratives about the lives of these women during this time.
The Missing Stories of the Kulin Women
However, this does not mean that narratives about Kulin women are completely absent. We have biographies of women like Nistarini Debiwho survived the Kulin system. However, there appear to be very few reliable historical sources that delve into the lives of these women beyond their portrayal as victims.
This erasure leaves many questions unanswered: What was the economic life of these women like? What social status did they have as married women? Did they address social concerns? Were they invisible even among married women? What contributions did they make to their birth family? While Nistarini Debi’s personal account in her dictated autobiography Sekeley Katha provides some of these answers, it is safe to assume that her account does not contain stories from centuries that will forever remain unheard.
Beyond narratives of heroism or victimhood
The problem with presenting historical facts as narratives of heroism or victimhood is that it leaves little room for facts. However, the fact is that the practice of polygyny and hypergamy led to women being forced into sex work and the number of female infanticides increasing. An official report from the mid-19th century highlights that nearly 10,000 of the 12,000 sex workers in the greater Calcutta area were wives or widows of Kulin Brahmins.
An official report from the mid-19th century highlights that nearly 10,000 of the 12,000 sex workers in the greater Calcutta area were wives or widows of Kulin Brahmins.
In Sekeley Katha, Nistarini Debi talks about how she met a “sister wife” in the Kalighat temple complex who had not yet received the news of her husband’s death. According to reports, Nistarini Debi was lucky that the news of her husband’s death had at least reached her in time.
Malabika Karmakar writes in her essay “Reflection on Kulin Polygamy – Nistarini Debi’s Sekeley Katha”: “Wherever the Kulins married, they kept a book of records.” My paternal grandfather [Nistarini Debi’s]Madanmohan Bandyopadhyay, had such a booklet. Inside were the addresses (of the houses) of his fifty-six wives, and wherever there was a small space in the book he filled in details of relevant financial matters, information about his children, and anything that would be useful to secure his social security contributions.
She further notes, “The notebook was similar to those that recorded the transactions of those who purchased their daily necessities on credit.” Like a collective register that lists how much income is owed by whom, it records which girl got married, when, and how much dowry was received. His visits were proportionately more frequent to houses where there was more to be had, both financially and otherwise.’
This highlights the transactional nature of these marriages and their role in promoting the economic status of the Kulin Brahmin household. For the Kulin man, these marriages were the way he supported his own family. Karmakar’s paper states: “In her long life, there were only two incidents in which Nistarini’s husband came to her birthplace.” Of course she never went to his village. The first time Iswar’s presence was required for a family wedding, he could only be lured onto the boat for the journey to his in-laws’ house by promising to pay his family Rs 5 per month.”
A system based on the neglect and exploitation of women
Essentially, this form of marriage allowed impoverished men, who had nothing but an arbitrary inheritance of “superiority,” to marry countless women without feeling any responsibility to them. In society’s memory, a Kulin marriage was like a funeral. Shriya Bandopadhyay, in their workWomen’s Voices From Within: A Study of ‘Pati-Ninda’ and ‘Jamai-Ninda’ from Bengali Mangalkabyas, notes that marrying a polygamous husband was considered a major disaster. However, there was also a sense of ritual purity associated with the Kulin system, and it enjoyed great popularity in the 18th century.
The pursuit of ritual purity, coupled with societal ideas of chastity and honor, sustained for centuries a system of marriage in which women were exploited and neglected.
Bandopadhyay notes, “From the writings of Bharatchandra Raygunakar, the court poet of Krishnachandra of Nadiya, we can understand how child marriage was justified in Kūlīnism on the grounds that it would preserve the chastity of women.” The pursuit of ritual purity, coupled with societal ideas of chastity and honor, kept alive for centuries a system of marriage in which women were exploited and neglected.
Going back to the quote that started this article, it becomes important to focus on the words “beshya holam” (becoming a sex worker). What this tells us about the women is that they most likely had few options. Retire to Varanasi as a widow (as told by Nistarini Debi), become a sex worker, or be poisoned to death (poisonings of Kulin women were passed off as cholera deaths, as noted by the reformer Brahmo Samaj). Dwarakanath Gangopadhyay).
Trying to understand Child marriage In the Bengal region, Kulin practice is key to understanding the roots of this system. And when we think of women in history, we must never forget those whose names have probably never been remembered, even by their own husbands. It will be the task of feminist historians to reconstruct the lives of women who have been forgotten in history so that we can imagine their existence beyond the lens of historical victimhood.
References
Chakrabarty, D. (2014). The Kulin-Brahmin and Polygamy Debates in Colonial Bengal. Indian Economic & Social History Review, 51(3), 345-366. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156594
Chatterjee, I. (1995). The Politics of Caste and Gender in Colonial Bengal. Social Scientist, 23 (1/3), 39–63. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3520431
Chatterjee, I. (2019). Kulin Brahmin women and the question of marriage in Bengal. Indian Historical Review, 46 (1), 1-23. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26668724
Editor’s note: The translation of the Bengali text (Sen, 1979) contains language that many readers may find rude or misogynistic. We have reproduced the translation faithfully to accurately reflect the original tone. The editorial decision to retain these statements reflects a commitment to accurate representation rather than an endorsement of the sentiments expressed.
Utsarjana Mutsuddi is a PhD research scholar working in the broader field of cultural studies with a focus on performance, cultural texts and indigenous studies. She loves writing, creating, cooking and dreaming.