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Join us for the 55th Janal Talks lecture on Kerala History at the Kerala Museum, titled:
Taravād, Status and Muslim Social Life in Kerala
Speaker: P.C. Saidalavi, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR.
Medium of talk: English
Date: 13th December 2025
Time: 4 pm
Location: Kerala Museum, Edappally
About the Talk:
Among Muslims in Kerala, the category of taravād has assumed a new political valency in recent times, owing to the organization of family gatherings. It existed as a caste category among Hindus, representing the Nair or Ezhava matrilineal households. Among Muslims, while the coastal Muslims were matrilineal, the inland Muslims were largely patrilineal. Muslims, as a whole, now employ the idea of taravād and reformulate it as a status principle and a hierarchical value. I delineate the mechanisms of its operation among Muslims by closely analyzing the discourses of family gatherings happening among Muslims in Malabar. I also explore the reasons why this category, not illam, mana, chetta, chāla, which were also available forms of discoursing about one’s household, became the valorized idea of familial organization among Muslims.
About the speaker:
P.C. Saidalavi is an assistant professor of Sociology at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR. His research interests include caste, inequality, labor and Islam. He has published in many reputed journals and his book titled, Seeking Allah’s Hierarchy: Caste, Labor and Islam in India was recently published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
