The most important dalit spiritual movement of the early 20th century was initiated by Poykayil Yohannan (widely called Poykayil Appachan by his followers), one of the most remarkable minds in the great social churning in Kerala of the early 20th century. Born in the Pathanamthitta district and converting to Christianity, Appachan rose to great heights as a masterful speaker and preacher, but he soon was disillusioned by the persistence of caste discrimination in the Church. He left to form his own faith, the Pratyaksha Raksh Daiva Sabha which attracted very many dalit followers as an empowering community. Appachan was a brilliant poet, thinker, legislator, and speaker but he was constantly threatened by the casteist elites everywhere he went. It was the women followers of Appachan who protected him in such moments of danger. Komarakam Chinnamma was one such hero, a fearless, strong, spiritually elevated dalit woman of those time. Her daughter, from these words, is a masterly story-teller. Continue reading “Remembering Mother’s Path: Komarakam Chinnamma in her Daughter’s Memories”
Category: Biography/Memory
Short pieces about first-generation feminists, well-known or little-known.
Female Friendships and Marriage: Lakshmi N Menon
Translated by J Devika
[Lakshmi N Menon (1899-1994) was one of the most successful Malayali women in Indian politics despite the fact that she never really entered formal politics, though attracted to nationalism and international politics as a student abroad in the 1920s. Her father was the well-known reformer, educationist, and rationalist Ramavarma Thampan, (her mother was Madhavikkutty Amma) and her husband the educationist and scholar V K Nandana Menon — but she was one of the rare women who were better known than their male relatives. Lakshmi N Menon was educated in Thiruvananthapuram and she worked for a time as a teacher and later as a lawyer, growing closer to social activism in the 1920s and 30s especially associated with the All-India Women’s Conference. She was a member of the Rajya Sabha in the 1950s; she represented as the head of the India delegation at the UN in the 1950s and was a Minister of State in the 1960s. She was nominated to the Committee on the Status of Women at the UN. Continue reading “Female Friendships and Marriage: Lakshmi N Menon”
Singer, Actor, Story-teller, Cine-artiste: M K Kamalam
Translated by J Devika
[M K Kamalam was born in Kumarakom, Kottayam as the second daughter of Kochupilla Panikkar and Karthyayani in 1928. She rose to fame as a stage actor and was one of the first lead female actors in Malayalam cinema, who appeared in the third Malayalam movie Balan (1938). Despite gaining much fame as an artiste, Kamalam drew back into domesticity and was soon forgotten, until she was rediscovered towards the end of the twentieth century. Sajitha Madathil’s short biography of Kamalam from which this excerpt is drawn (S Madathil, M K Kamalam, Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala State Chalachitra Akademi, 2010) reveals the immense talent and tenacity that a woman needed in order to enter theatre and cinema in the early 20th century. ] Continue reading “Singer, Actor, Story-teller, Cine-artiste: M K Kamalam”
Between Two Independent Minds: I C Chacko and Nidheerikkal Mariam
[ Excerpts from ‘Kudumbajeevitham’, from the biography of the renowned geologist and scholar I C Chacko, by Mathew Ulakamthara — I C Chacko, Thiruvananthapuram: Dept of Cultural Publications, 1995, 111-13]
Mrs I C Chacko, or Mariam Nidheerikkal, was a vocal, articulate defender of women’s rights in early twentieth century Kerala. One of her speeches is included in the Speeches page. This account of her marriage clearly is by someone barely sympathetic to her. Continue reading “Between Two Independent Minds: I C Chacko and Nidheerikkal Mariam”
The Blue Seams of Writing – In Memory of Lalitha P Nair: K R Meera
Sasthamkotta:
Wife of ex Member of Parliament V P Nair’s wife and writer Lalitha P Nair (79) (Tilak Bhawan, Manakkara) passed away. A member of the Koyikonanth family, Thumbamon, Pandalam, her major published works were Lalithanjali, Ormakal Marikkunnilla, and Smrithimayukham. Sons: Dr Sasidharan, Dr Harikumar (both London), Vishwanathan Nair (Tilak Paints, Sasthamkotta). Daughters-in-law: Chandrika, Padmaja, Maheswari.
Just five lines — and a woman’s whole life is done — how easy. Someone’s wife, a writer of three books, the mother of three sons — that is all left behind when her life congeals. Her smiles and tears are not recorded. Continue reading “The Blue Seams of Writing – In Memory of Lalitha P Nair: K R Meera”
Swatantryavaadini 