Inter-caste Marriage: V T's next step was to promote inter-caste marriages. His own sister, then a student of the Vidyaalayam was married off to a Nair. This act in fact, resulted in court proceedings against him for breach of contract within the Vidyaalayam Committee. The Committee could get a judgement in its favour to recover all the educational expenses incurred by the Committee on V T's sister, and got it implemented too.

"Bhrashtanmaar": The Sabha moved forward partly in line with the ideas and programmes pursued by V T. He and the Sabha now rose above the problems of intra-communal inequalities ("Avaanthara Vibhaagam", "Aabhijaathyam", etc.) and turned their attention to bring back the excommunicated families ("Bhrashtanmaar", included in the infamous '64') and those who had changed faith during Tippu's attack. Their children were encouraged to apply for admission in the Vidyaalayam. But the Committee, fearing adverse impacts, refused admission. For such people to be admitted as members in the Sabha, they had to wait till the annual meeting of ME 1110 at Haripad. It was in that meeting that a decision was taken to consider all such persons as equals. In the next year's meeting (ME 1111) at Thrissur, a "Bhrashtan", V K Narayana Bhattathiri was elected to the Executive Committee.

The leadership of the Sabha, who could not quite catch up (agree) with the somewhat extremist views of VT, did not pursue many of his proposals. For instance, the Vidyaalayam Committee, though elected from the Sabha, held its ground and argued that it is autonomous, and did not permit the Sabha's Executive Committee to interfere with its management and policies such as the criteria for admission, etc. The result was that the Vidyaalayam continued to flourish even after the Sabha and the Sangham became defunct.

Silver Jubilee: The Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Sabha were held at Karalmanna (ME 1108). A large number of Antharjanams, numbering over a hundred, attended. A "Prahasanam" (drama) was enacted. The play was written by a novice, Matamp Narayanan Namboodiri, and the actors were also newcomers. But things went quite well.

Widow Marriage: The next annual meeting (ME 1109), held at Peramangalam had a lot of fireworks and had to be dispersed without staging the drama. A resolution for "widow marriage" was introduced, but was strongly opposed. The presidents of both the Sabha and Sangham, and the reception committee chairman and secretary were all advocates, coincidentally. Replying to the opposition, they explained about a similar Bill which was passed by the Government of India about a hundred years earlier and applicable to all Hindus. At that time, it was passed in spite of tremendous opposition, after quoting Dharma Saasthrams permitting widow marriage. In the Sabha, when put to vote after such explanations, the resolution was passed.

Implementation of the resolution did not take long. Just as another important resolution for bringing excommunicated persons back into the Namboothiri fold, was passed one year and implemented the next year, the widow marriage resolution was also first implemented a year after its adoption. M R B married a widow, arranged and conducted by V T himself. In addition to Namboothiris themselves, persons from other communities also opposed this revolutionary movement. But, more interestingly, Antharjanams and unmarried girls opposed it, fearing that it would adversely affect their daughters' and their own marriage prospects.

The II World War and After: It was soon afterwards, when the Sabha's activities were on the decline, that the Second World War broke out. Hitler started attacking and capturing the smaller countries around Germany, leading ultimately to a World War, with Britain and her allies on one side and Germany on the other.

Towards the end of the war, in ME 1120, the Sabha met at Ongallur and the communist theoretician, E M S Namboodiripad was chosen to preside over. He gladly accepted it, perhaps with an indirect objective to infuse marxist political ideologies into the community. But, since he was a full-time party worker, he could not devote much energy to Sabha activities, and hence delegated that work to his followers. His main theme was to transform "Namboothiris into humans".

Efforts to take over the Vidyaalayam failed. Even the Yogakshemam Reading Room, which had been running well, was now on its decline. Then the old-timers once again took over the management. In the next year's (ME 1121) annual meeting (35th) held at Sukapuram, the main topic for heated discussion was about the dissolution of Namboothiri Vidyaalayam. Then EMS brought an amendment which was satisfactory to everyone, and it was passed. In fact, it strengthened the very foundation and autonomy of the Vidyaalayam.

But, the dynamism and vigour seen at Sukapuram was only momentary. The Sabha became quite inactive, although annual meetings were held at different places like Pazhur, Cherpu, Thrissur and Cheruthuruthy (Kalaamandalam). In the last mentioned, several of the earlier leaders were present.

Sudhham, Misrabhojanam: During the annual meetings of the Sabha in the earlier years, everyone observed "Sudhham" (non-pollution). They used to remove "Asudhham" (pollution, or defilement) by bathing and wearing the wet or fresh clothes. If anyone was suspected to have become polluted during the proceedings, he/she took bath before entering the dining hall. There used to be volunteers for safe-keeping of clothes and other belongings.

Gradually, over the years, such strictness started disappearing. Wearing of shirt was then prohibited only in the dining hall. Such changes and transformation reached a zenith during the Silver Jubilee celebrations in ME 1108 at Karalmanna. By then, the Namboothiri youth had already started participating in public and social activities. Removal of untouchability was one such issue. Caste difference began to be ignored. It was in the Kumaaranallur meeting that Namboothiris and other castes ate sitting next to one another. Among the other castes were Sahodaran Ayyappan, Mannathu Padmanabhan Pillai and advocate and rationalist M C Joseph.

Thus the transformation of Namboothiris was indeed quite praise-worthy.

Antharjana Samaajam: There was yet another movement by Namboothiri women which resulted in the establishment of an "Antharjana Samaajam", with a central unit and sub-units, similar to the Sabha. The Samaajam originated at Vellinezhi in ME 1107 following the "Kutiveppu" after O M C Narayanan Nambudiripad's marriage, which itself was conducted in the traditional manner. The leadership came from Mrs Moothiringod, Devaki Narikkattiri and others, and developed into a well-organised unit under C K Parvathy who got her motivation and capabilities from her father, C K Namboodiri. The Sangham used to hold its annual meetings in conjunction with those of the Sabha in the same shed. In the end, the roles were reversed, with the Sabha meeting in the shadow of the Samaajam.

A play by Lalithambika Antharjanam, "Savithrykutty, athhavaa Vidhavaa Vivaaham" (Savithrykutty or widow marriage) was staged in the Haripad anniversary in ME 1110. Because of the problems which marred the meeting at Peramangalam the previous year, the Haripad meeting had a very poor attendance. A proposed resolution to felicitate M R B for his marriage to a widow was rejected by the Subject Committee. But a resolution proposed in the general meeting with the special permission of the president was adopted by voice vote.

In the annual meeting of ME 1111 at Thrissur, for the first time an exhibition of the handicrafts made by Namboothiris was conducted. Two years later it was repeated, but with more crafts from Antharjanams, and the Sabha gave away awards for the best works. It was unfortunate that this idea fructified only towards the end of the Sabha.

The Tree Withers: The degradation of the Sabha was manifested first in the Peramangalam meeting where the conflict between the Sabha and the Sangham had come out in the open. Yet the routine annual meetings were held. No meeting was convened in ME 1116. In ME 1117, the meeting held at Thrissur in the Namboothiri Vidyaalayam was purely a business meeting, and could be termed as the end of the Sabha. Only 65 members attended. Even the first meeting of the Sabha in 1083 had much larger attendance, over 150. Of course, there were reasons and demands then, but 33rd meeting had outlived the goals and the tree withered and dried owing to the drought (of purpose and ideas).

Grieved and frustrated by the wayward moves of the Sabha which was getting farther and farther away from true and permanent values and culture, and though the Sabha was practically dead, some of the old presidents and stalwarts like D H Nambudiripad and Chittur Kunjan Nambudiripad did make a rejuvenation effort. The leaders met in ME 1137, chaired by DH and took a decision to revive the Mahaasabha. And then it was on the shoulders of the latter alone. Some even suggested to change the name from "Namboothiri Yogakshemam" to "Kerala Yogakshemam".

The simple truth was that when most of the goals of the Sabha and the Sangham were achieved, there was purposelessness which led to the natural death of the organisation.

Many years later in 1980 (ME 1156), a group of young Namboothiris established a "Yogakshema Sabha". It does have sub-units like the Mahaasabha used to have. With clear goals, it is possible to regain the lost name of the Mahaasabha. It can have a purposeful future.