Illatom Son-in-law

 Illatom son-in-law

Madras High Court (1940) 2 MLJ 30

JUDGMENT: Wadsworth, J.

The plaintiff claimed properties on the basis of an alleged Illatom affiliation.

Konda Reddy, at a time when he had no children, took the plaintiff into his family apparently with the idea of a regular adoption.

Subsequently, there were born to Konda Reddi first a son, then a daughter, and then another son.

After the birth of the son it is found that Konda Reddi, no longer being able to adopt the plaintiff. 

In due course of time, an epidemic of plague intervened, the eldest son being the first victim, followed by Konda Reddi himself about a week later. On this deathbed, Konda Reddi instructed his wife to complete the Illatom affiliation by marrying the daughter to the plaintiff. The plaintiff thus married Konda Reddi’s daughter and Konda Reddi took the plaintiff as an Illatom son-in-law and he lived in the family and managed the properties for his mother-in-law.

This case has certain peculiarities. In the first place, it comes from the Salem District which is not one of the Districts in which the Illatom custom is widely recognised. Another peculiarity is that the parties belong to the Kammala caste. (But the High Court construed to conclude that this must be a mistake due to the unfamiliarity of the learned Trial Judge with the Telugu caste name, the Trial Judge stated that the parties are Kammala Reddis). 

Kammala Reddis is one of the castes in respect of which Mayne’s Hindu Law recognises that the Illatom practice prevails. Actually, the Author recognises the existence of the custom in the Kamma and Reddi castes, not in the Kammala caste, which is quite a different community and one in which, so far as has never been this practice.

The Kammala caste is essentially a Tamil caste of artisans, not to be confused with the Telugu Kamma caste, which not infrequently adopts the title of Reddi and has strong affinities with the numerous Kapu castes, the members of which are normally known as Reddis.

The witnesses in this case describe themselves as Reddis simply. Presumably, they must be Kamma Reddis wrongly described by the Subordinate Judge as Kammala Reddis.

Illatom Affiliation:

Normally, there would be an agreement between the father of the boy, if he was a minor and the prospective father-in-law; or, if the prospective son-in-law was a major, between the son-in-law himself and the prospective father-in-law, that the proposed Illatom son-in-law should be taken into the family by his prospective father-in-law with a view to his marriage with a daughter of the house and the conferment upon him of the Illatom status, with its customary incidents. These customary incidents being well known would not ordinarily be the subject of specific agreement. 

It is settled by the Privy Council’s decision in Krishnamma v. Venkata subbayya  (1919) 37 MLJ 1, that the practice of Illatom affiliation is frequently followed even when the family into which the son-in-law  had been taken has a natural born son living.

There is also authority in Venkayalapatti Venkatachalam v. Negaudla Butchanna, (1911) 11 IC 25, for the proposition that, when a boy has been taken into a family on the understanding that he would be married to a daughter and given the status of an Illatom son-in-law, the arrangement may be completed by the solemnisation of the marriage even after the death of the prospective father-in-law.

But it has never been held that a mere arrangement to take a boy as an Illatom son-in-law, followed by living in the prospective father-in-law’s household, but not followed by marriage to the proposed bride, will complete an Illatom affiliation. 

In this case – the plaintiff was taken into the household of Konda Reddi originally with a view to a regular adoption but, after the birth of a son to Konda Reddi, he continued there under a proposal that he should be married to the daughter and treated as an Illatom son-in-law. Konda Reddi on his deathbed asked his wife to complete this arrangement by marrying the daughter to the plaintiff, giving him a share in the property as an Illatom son-in-law. Thus, he married his daughter and living in the household as an Illatom son-in-law. It is true that there is no specific evidence that during the lifetime of Konda Reddi there was an arrangement of Illatom affiliation.

Therefore, the Madras High Court held that there is no Illatom affiliation between the father-in-law and the son-in-law and hence his suit to claim the properties as Illatom son-in-law fails.

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