Colonial modernity brought changes in the social perception of emergent Indian middle class. The novel world opened before them through European literature made them critically analyse the then existing indigenous family relations. Consequently women who were immune from the onslaught of the colonial modernity became the target of the social reform programme. However the reformers were keen to preserve the patriarchal regulations on women. The Nair community passed through a period of historic changes during the twentieth century, when their matrilineal system was challenged by the colonial legislative interventions. On the other hand women of the community were exhorted to accept the ideology of pathivratha-an inherent concept of Brahmanical patriarchy.
