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Governance and paradoxes

THE WEEK India

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July 13, 2025

R. Mohan's second book looks at the evolution of Kerala's polity

- BY K.M. CHANDRASEKHAR

Governance and paradoxes

Former civil servant R. Mohan’s second book—Story of Schisms and Isms; Kerala: From the Twilight of Monarchy to the Present—is a monumental work that encapsulates extensive research, thinking and reflection on the evolution of politics in Kerala, from the days of the maharajas to the present. The material for the book was collected over 10 years, with the writing itself taking a full year.

Interestingly, as the book reveals, the story of schisms and isms started in Kerala long before Independence, as the maharajas and diwans experimented with controlled democracy. Drawing from historian Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai’s research, Mohan notes that Hindu society in Kerala was originally casteless, divided into five desams (palai, kurinchi, mullai, marutham and neythal). The stratification of Hindu society appears to have come much later with the influx of Brahmanism.

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