The Woman Who Cut Off Her Breasts in Response to Rules Set By Early 19th-Century Society

Over the years, many women’s sacrifices have become stories and songs, urban legends and folklore, never written or evidenced in history. This is one such story that lives with little concrete proof of ever happening but is still remembered.

The folklore passed down generations says she was beautiful and fiercely independent. She wouldn’t bow down her head just because she was a woman of a lower caste.

Her name was Nangeli.

The Breast Tax

Nangeli, a woman of the Ezhava community, lived during the early 19th century in the princely state of Travancore in British ruled India. In those days, the caste you belonged to dictated how much freedom you had.

During her time, the women of the lower caste were not allowed to cover their upper bodies. Only the upper caste women had that luxury. If they wanted to do so, they had to pay a “Breast tax”.

Women like herself had to pay the government a tax on their breasts as soon as they started developing. Men had a similar tax on their heads for the hair they grew.

Tax collectors would visit each house to collect the breast tax from any lower caste women who passed puberty. To add insult to injury, they evaluated the tax based on the size of the woman’s breasts. The larger the breasts, the higher the tax!

The purpose of the breast tax was to maintain the caste system.

Uncovering one’s breast, while seen as a token of homage from the lower to the upper caste, made sure that these women could be identified just by their clothing. Only the upper caste women could cover themselves, and this made Nangeli and other lower caste women easy targets of the voyeuristic male gaze.

Despite having to face such humiliation, nobody dared to speak against the caste-based tax system. Anyone who raised an issue was quickly silenced, and women revolting was unheard of.

The lower communities had resigned to living their life following rules set by society. They hated the tax but could not raise their voices against it.

One Woman’s Act of Defiance

Nangeli knew what would happen if she went against the laws set by upper-caste men. But she couldn’t go on like this any longer. The consequences, if she did anything, were severe, and yet she had enough.

Determined to revolt, she walked out of her home wearing a top cloth covering her bosom, just like any other upper-caste woman.

It was a defiant challenge against the men of power who ruled their lives, and they saw it as a threat to the delicate balance of the caste hierarchy.

As days went on, the news of Nangeli walking about with her breasts covered spread like wildfire. Soon enough, the village tax collector showed up at her house to ‘assess’ her dues and collect the tax, followed by a crowd of villagers all eager to have a look.

Nangeli was expecting the tax collector and had already prepared the fresh plantain leaves on which the rice was collected as the tax was to be offered.

There was barely any rice in the house. She was a poor Ezhava woman who could hardly meet the needs of her family. She didn’t have any rice to pay as tax to cover herself.

Next to the leaves, she placed her sharpened sickle.

When the collector came to her house, she submitted herself to his examination without protest. Before he could announce the evaluated tax amount, Nangeli picked up her sickle and cut off her breasts.

She placed them on the plantain leaf and set it in front of the collector, making her payment.

The man fled away in horror, and Nangeli bled to death at her doorstep.

By evening her body was cremated, and her husband, overcome by grief, killed himself by jumping into her funeral pyre.

Nangeli’s Death Led to Something Never Done Before

Her act became the trigger for many riots and people’s movements.

Because of the cruel oppression of lower caste Hindu women, many embraced Christianity to cover themselves. For decades, revolts and unrest continued, and many laws were enacted and removed regarding the upper cloth issue.

The violence continued until two Dalit women were killed, stripped of their upper cloth, and hanged from a tree by Travancore officials.

The brutal punishment caused the lower communities to revolt ferociously until it forced the king to issue a royal proclamation annulling the breast tax, allowing lower-caste women to cover themselves.

Legend v.s. Facts

The story of Nangeli is a story passed on through generations and has taken on the form of folklore. None of it is recorded in history.

It is said that the king annulled the tax the day after Nangeli’s death. The tax itself had little to do with women’s breasts except for the name they gave it in the local language — “Mulakkaram” — which translates to breast tax. It was a poll tax charged from minorities. The men were also subject to the same, and to distinguish female payees, the term breast tax was used.

Unlike what Nangeli’s story claims, the tax was not evaluated based on the size, but it was a standard rate charged from women in a very oppressive way.

Nangeli’s defiance, though celebrated as a rebellion to protect her dignity, was more likely a stand against the caste-based tax system. During her time, covering the body was not a part of Kerala society, and even upper caste women had to remove their upper cloth in front of the king as a sign of respect and hierarchy.

In memory of her sacrifice, the place where Nangeli’s home once stood is now known as Mulachiparambu or “the land of the breasted woman”.

It is no surprise that her story remains hidden away from the history of Travancore, as official records at the time were maintained by upper-caste men. Nangeli’s story has taken many forms, from an outcry against the male gaze to protect female dignity to a rebellion against the oppressive caste system.

Her story is one of many that never made it official historical records but is sung through the times as a tale of resistance — one woman who denounced the ruling authority in an unthinkable way.