Malabar Marriage Act, 1896
Overview
In 1896, the government of Madras
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...

 passed the Malabar Marriage Act in response to the recommendations of the Malabar Marriage Commission
Malabar Marriage Commission, 1891
The Malabar Marriage Commission was formed in 1891 by the Government of Madras in response to a bill that was introduced to the Madras Legislative Council in 1890 by Sir C. Sankaran Nair, a lawyer of the Madras High Court...

 of 1891. This allowed members of any caste practising marumakkatayam (matriliny) in Malabar
Malabar District
Malabar District was an administrative district of Madras Presidency in British India and independent India's Madras State. The British district included the present-day districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad , and Chavakad Taluk of Thrissur District in the northern part of...

 to register a sambandham
Sambandham
Sambandham was a form of marital system primarily followed by the Nairs in what is the present-day Indian state of Kerala. This system of marriage was followed by the matriarchal castes of Kerala, though today the custom has ceased to exist...

as a marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

. It was permissive rather than restrictive law: whether or not a relationship was registered was entirely the decision of the people involved in that relationship.

Initiated by the work of Sir C. Sankaran Nair
C. Sankaran Nair
Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair KCIE was the President of the Indian National Congress in 1897 held at Amraoti. Until present he is the only Keralite to hold the post.-Early life and education:...

, the measure was largely a failure, with Panikkar noting that in the 20 years following introduction of the Act only six such relationships were registered and that all of those involved family members of Nair himself.
Sambandham was a form of relationship perhaps most notably practiced by the Nair
Nair
Nair , also known as Nayar , refers to "not a unitary group but a named category of castes", which historically embody several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom bore the Nair title. These people historically live in the present-day Indian state of Kerala...

 caste.
Quotations

When I read something saying I've not done anything as good as Catch-22 I'm tempted to reply, "Who has?"

As quoted in The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Quotations (1997) edited by Peter Kemp, p. 303

It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him.

Opening Lines

The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likeable. In three days no one could stand him.

"Open your eyes, Clevinger. It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."

Clevinger was dead. That was the basic flaw in his philosophy.

"The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."

He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive.

 
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