BREAST TAX IN KERALA HISTORY FOR LOW CASTES
BREAST TAX IN KERALA HISTORY FOR LOW CASTES Over three hundred years ago, the southern state of Kerala had a system of taxation, whereby women belonging to backward castes and Dalits had to pay a tax, if they wanted to cover their breasts. Standing bare chested was taken as a sign of respect towards those castes supposedly "superior" to them - for both men and women. The tax however, was levied only on Avarna (lower caste) women who wanted to cover their chest. It goes without saying that some of these "superiors" would have also got their voyeuristic kicks out of this system as well. Royal officials would travel door to door, collecting this heinous "Mulakkaram" - literally Breast Tax- from Avarna women who had passed puberty. Sickeningly, the amount would depend on the size of the breasts. Legend has it that a young Ezhava woman from Cherthala in Alappuzha, humiliated and frustrated by this indignity, decided she had enough of being insult...