Abstract
Brahmins, a brand distributed by Brahmins Group, a company founded in India in 1987, emphasises their unequivocally vegetarian products, with the website being titled ‘Brahmins: A Vegetarian Promise’. Established by a Namboothiri father–son duo of Kerala, they package and market the food values exclusive to their caste, along lines which literally characterise a brahmin’s touch as sacred and pure. The branding and digital marketing and the images projected through digital and televised promotional campaigns reflect the socio-cultural leanings of the firm’s products.
Brahmins Group’s branding entails underscoring the upper caste Namboothiri identity and the superiority of their vegetarian products, by not selling any meat-related condiments and limiting themselves to a miniscule market of vegetarian products. The marketing relies on a promise to both vegetarians and meat eaters, of authentic and affordable brahmin fare.
This chapter explores the metamorphosis of caste practice in the era of digital marketing, with reference to Brahmins Group’s unique branding style that invokes caste identity to project its purity and to a certain extent imply exclusivity. In order to understand this trend, the chapter investigates whether the latent perceptions of caste superiority are being reinforced through such a mode of branding.
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Notes
- 1.
Available on YouTube.
- 2.
Pisharody is a sub-caste of the Amabalavasi, who are mainly temple caste groups descended from Namboothiris on their paternal side. The Pisharody were supposed to have been temple caretakers in pre-modern Kerala. Some Pisharody now claim a close affinity to the Namboothiri Brahmins, while others consider themselves a separate caste of Kerala Brahmins. Due to their association with the temple, they tend to claim a higher status than groups like the Nairs or the Samantha Kshatriyas. The only caste group they consider socially higher than their own are the Namboothiri Brahmins. Pisharodys are Vaishnavites, whose traditional vocation was teaching Sanskrit and the Vedic texts. Consequently, many were Gurus or Acharyas. They are not required to wear the sacred thread, but some Pisharodys do to hold upanyana, or a thread ceremony, for their male progeny.
- 3.
The word sneham implies feelings of liking, affection, friendship, love or attachment. From a sociological perspective, the authors consider its social manifestation in relationships between local landowners or employers and their employees, based on popular ideas about bodily health, physical characteristics and exchanges of gifts.
- 4.
This section refers to colonial anthropologists’ assessments of local populations and it is important to acknowledge that a majority of such studies had agendas and mindsets directed towards furthering colonialism. Consequently, they have been employed with the utmost caution.
- 5.
Literally, ‘people who live inside’. Used for Namboothiri women who were not supposed to appear before outsiders and spent most of their lives within the house.
- 6.
Remains or saliva—in the context of food it refers to leftover food that is impure because it has come in contact with saliva.
- 7.
Pattars are Tamil Brahmins, also called Kerala Iyers; Embranthiri migrated to Kerala from the Tuluva region in southern Karnataka.
- 8.
An illam is a family house. Here, the term refers to Namboothiri houses. Houses belonging to caste groups such as Nairs and Syrian Christians are also described as such. Other terms used for Namboothiri illams are Brahmaalayam and Mana. Illam can also be used to refer to ‘households’ in general. The term encapsulates a system used to classify and identify homes based on caste in Kerala.
- 9.
A sambandham is an informal marriage between a younger son from a Namboothiri family and a Nair woman.
- 10.
Kayipunyam is an innate talent or gift that enables one to cook flavourful food. Translated from an interview conducted in the Malayalam language, in August 2021, Kozhikode.
- 11.
Amla in Hindi.
- 12.
Clarified butter
- 13.
Usually coconut oil in Kerala.
- 14.
Fritters made out of different vegetables like bitter gourd, Thai pea eggplant (chundakka), long beans, scarlet gourd (kovakkai), chilli, and so on. They are also found in non-vegetarian varieties based on beef and chicken.
- 15.
Translated from interview in Malayalam, August 2021, Kozhikode.
- 16.
These notions are based on the Triguna Theory in which sattva, rajas and tamas are the three main gunas or qualities of the universe. Sattva is pure intelligence which creates balance and harmony; Rajas is velocity, acceleration and action, which can lead to overstimulation, excitement and stress; and Tamas refers to rest, inertia and darkness, which cause pessimism, weakness and laziness. These three major qualities are said to be the underlying qualities in food as well as in human nature. Foods that emit an odour are leftover or stale or fermented (onion, garlic, over-ripe or under-ripe fruits, breads, meat of dead animals and alcohol) and are usually considered to be tamsik in nature. Heavy foods with sharp and pungent vegetables; unsprouted lentils and fresh meat are considered rajasik. Odourless, uncooked or lightly cooked fresh vegetarian foods (whole grains, nuts, seeds, ghee) are satvik. As per Ayurveda and Yoga Shastras a person’s aacharan, or conduct and lifestyle, are highly dependent upon the dominance of any of the three qualities in their diet. These three qualities are very closely related to varna hierarchy. The Brahmins who prescriptively signify pure intelligence and dedicate their life to prayer and the study of Vedas should have a satvik diet. The other three varnas—kshatriya (warfare and governance), vaishya (trade and commerce) and shudhra (agriculture)—should have a rajasik-dominant diet. The Avarnas who serve the other varnas as cleaners, garbage collectors, disposers of dead animal carcasses and so on should have a tamsik-dominant diet.
- 17.
The term Rakshasan is used to describe antagonistic figures in religious scriptures. It literally means malignant demon. It can also be used to refer to asuras who are engaged in an endless feud with the devas to fulfil their desire for power and the divinity they lack.
- 18.
Translated from interview in Malayalam, August 2021, Kozhikode.
- 19.
Puttu is a rice-based breakfast dish consumed in South India, prepared by adding water to ground rice and steam-cooking the mixture.
- 20.
Interview in English, August 2021, Kochi.
- 21.
A dark brown, sweet-sour and spicy Keralite curry made of ginger, tamarind, green chillies and jaggery.
- 22.
Interview in English, July 2021, Coimbatore.
- 23.
Owner of a Coimbatore-based catering company, who requested anonymity.
- 24.
The owner said: ‘They could be Christians for all I care. That doesn’t matter anymore. They should just follow the recipe. The instruction that is there in the computer now. Following that produces the right taste’. Interview in English, August 2021, Coimbatore.
- 25.
Brahmins Group, ‘Brahmins Sambar Powder’, uploaded Feb 2014, YouTube video, 0:36, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E67ytSqhIs&ab_channel=BrahminsGroup (accessed 24 January 2023).
- 26.
A style of building mansions or tharavads (traditional family homes), nalukettu literally refers to four blocks. A typical house would be divided into north, south, east and west blocks. These mansions housed large joint families who lived together for generations, with a patriarch and matriarch overseeing all their affairs. Here, the term has been used as a noun to describe a tradition Keralite mansion.
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Srikumar, R., Mohankumar, A. (2023). Brahmins’ ‘Touch’ in Digital Branding: Food, Taste and Identity. In: Bhoi, D., Gorringe, H. (eds) Caste in Everyday Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30655-6_9
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