Women and Khadar: E Narayanikkutty Amma

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Translated by J Devika

[an earlier version of this appeared in my book Her-Self, from Sree/Samya, Kolkata 2005

 

  Elamkuttil Narayanikutty Amma (– 1980) was born in the first decade of the 20th century at Kozhikode in north Kerala. Her father Edavalli Narayanan Nair, was a lawyer. She graduated from Queen Mary’s College, Madras, and worked as a teacher in Kozhikode. She attained fame as a brilliant teacher and was deeply involved in the opening of a ‘Baby Centre’ at Kozhikode, which offered health care for poor children. She was also active in the All-India Women’s Conference, along with others like T. M. Narayanikutty Kovilamma and G. Kamalamma. Later she rose to prominence in the national movement as a propagator of Khadar and Hindi, and closely associated with well-known nationalists like A.V.Kuttimalu Amma and Verkot Ammakutty Amma. She was also keenly interested in the stage, and appeared onstage in the dramatic production of O. Chandu Menon’s pioneering novel, Indulekha (1889). She was known to be an excellent organiser, and much of the credit for the ‘Swadeshi Exhibitions’ conducted at Kozhikode in the 1930s went to her. She withdrew from public life after independence.

 

[ ‘Streekalum Khadarum’, Malayala Masika 1(1) M.E 1105 Medam (April-May 1929-30):15-20]

Welcome to the eagerly awaited Malayala Masika 1!  I hereby express my heartfelt gratitude to the organisers for reckoning me among the conductors of its birth-ceremony. Let the merciful Lord Balakrishna bless the magazine so that it becomes a model for other publications in fortune, virtue, health and longevity, and sheds light on the whole of Keralam like an everlasting lamp. I am very happy to be given a chance to send this infant periodical a message. Nevertheless, I had been asked to write about any topic with the exception of politics2. Today, in India, surely, there seems to be no topic that is not related to the Nation, or to politics. However, since ordinary women like clothes and ornaments best, I intend to say a few words about the former.

 

Everyone knows that these are times in which we are all are obliged to persevere for the advancement of Mother India, irrespective of our sex. The times in which we were required to speak of women’s education or independence are almost gone. What is the duty of educated women today? By education one means not just English education, but instruction that prepares them well for their particular duty. They have a duty to the Nation, which is as, or more, important than their duty towards their home. Even if they may not be able to do much in politics or community-life under present circumstances, they are probably in a better position to serve the Motherland economically. Merely that they need to pay some keen attention to understand the sheer poverty, exigencies and losses that have been our lot. We must think why poverty has made its appearance in India today. Was India always in this plight? Never. Once upon a time, Indian muslin and silk fabrics were famous all around the world.

 

English merchants entered India for trade. The foundations of their prosperity were established in that burning-ghat in which they had reduced the spinning wheel to ashes. English merchants uprooted the cottage industries of the Indians and usurped their peace and prosperity. Some of us may ask why we must all hasten to revive this extinct industry, as we have all been divided into separate Jatis, pursuing distinct sorts of occupation: would it not be enough to limit the protest to those who have been trained as weavers for generations? The answer to this question would be that this move intends not only to replace all the foreign cloth with swadeshi fabrics (in a short time), but also to provide an antidote to the sheer laxity displayed by a whole people towards this excellent industry. The foreigner’s formidable capacity for violence can be fought and quelled only through the pacific power of the spinning wheel. From ancient times, the hands that spun have earned India’s food and freedom. Our salvation, truly, lies in the spinning wheel.

 

We must also remember that the revival of the spinning wheel will provide work and a livelihood for thousands of our brothers and sisters, besides aiding the overall improvement of India’s economic status. Our poverty will not cease if we merely wear khadar. Many of us may be wearing it. However, the present-day duty of Indian women lies in providing the thread to weave khadar. Are you stern enough to remain passive, even on hearing Mother India’s sorrowful lament, which asks: do you wish to serve the millionaire-foreigner, or make a livelihood for your indigent sister? If not, then console the Mother, wipe her tears with the khadar you have made yourself!

 

Looking at the figures for some eight years before, the total length of clothing bought in India was 404 crore yards. The clothing that serves as dress materials comes to an average of 12 yards per person. If all 32 crores of the population is divided up into families of five members each, how easy will it be for each family to produce the clothing it requires! According to the above figures each family will need 60 yards of clothing a year. Even if thread is spun only 25 days a month, the time necessary for producing good thread, and cleaning the cotton will take only two and a half-hours. Therefore, is it not certain that if a small portion of the time we idle away were spent in this, there will be much to gain?

 

Another difficulty would be about obtaining the cotton. Thinking of it, we need only 60% of the cotton grown in our country to meet our needs. Some may say that cotton is not cultivated in Keralam. This could be easily made up with some effort. Already, jute cultivation has picked up in some parts of the land. Likewise, each family will be able to raise the cotton for their immediate need for clothing. Figures say that half an acre of land will yield 20 pounds of cotton. All this is certainly not difficult for us, who are used to cottage industries since long ago. It is quite easy in Keralam. Besides, it can be shown that this will bring much profit.

 

The 16 crore tons of cotton harvested in 1922 from 180 lakh acres of land was worth 91 crores of rupees. The cost of 50 yards being Rs. 23, annas 8, each family makes a net profit of Rs. 12, annas 8, subtracting Rs. 11 for weaving charges and agricultural expenses. Some may feel that this is a trivial sum. Nevertheless, in Keralam, with a population of 80 lakhs, subdivided into five, on an average, if each family makes a profit of Rs. 12, the total profit would be 200 lakh (2 crore) rupees. Do we have no reservations about throwing away this huge sum, to be picked up by outsiders? Are we so rich? Even if we are indeed rich and busy, how many of us carry on in dire difficulty, wandering about as good-for-nothings? Is it not our duty not to dissipate this human existence, to make it beneficial for our brethren and ourselves?

 

These days, we find nothing but fancy clothes all around. But do my honourable sisters realise that not one yard of this belongs to us? Are we not ashamed that Mother India, who gave away clothing to the whole world two centuries ago, is seeking the help of others to cover her nakedness today? The foreigners have done great injustice to the Mother. Let the spinning wheel, which is none other than the Srichakram of the Preserver of the Universe3 come to her rescue.

Notes

  1. The Malayala Masika was published by a Women’s Association called the Kottakkal Manorama Stree Samajam, and began around 1930. It was one of the first journals in Malabar, it was claimed, to be “run by women for women”. See, ‘Swantam Karyam’, Malayala Masika 1 (1) 1931: 2.

2. The practice of excluding politics from the topics discussed in Malayalam women’s magazines is as old as Malayalam women’s magazines themselves. The first women’s magazine in Malayalam, the Keraleeya Suguna Bodhini (1894), stated this plainly (quoted in Raghavan 1985:141). The Malayala Masika, too, was uncompromising. Its preliminary statement said: “This infant should not be allowed anywhere near the political conflagration of the present” (ibid. p.4). However, women did partake in militant ways in the nationalist movement and the workers’ movements. See, Menon 1971; Velayudhan 1999.

3. Refers to the weapon wielded by Vishnu, the spiked wheel, known as the Sudarshanam, supposedly forged by the master-builder Visvakarma from the excess energy of the Sun God. This in fact was a common way of representing the charkha in nationalist speech and writing in Malayalam, which became highly popular through the poetry of Vallathol Narayana Menon (1879-1958), in which it appears as the Tantric Srichakra and the See Chaitanya 1971: 238.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will Not Women Awake? Editorial: Vanitakusumam

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Translated by J Devika

 

[this is an earlier version of a translation that appeared in my book Her-Self, from Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005. For a fuller, annotated version, please refer the book]

 

 [ Editorial, ‘Streekal Iniyum Unarukayille?’, Vanitakusumam* 1 (11) M. E. 1103 Dhanu ( December-January 1927-28): 387-88]

 

* The Vanitakusumam was published from Kottayam in 1927 and was edited by V. C. John, who also edited the newspaper Pratidinam. It is said to have had a subscription of more than 2000, the largest of all women’s magazines in Malayalam at that time, though it proved to be quite short-lived. Raghavan 1985, p. 147.

The elections and nominations to the Shree Mulam Popular Assembly are over. The government of Tiruvitamkoor has not been benevolent enough to appoint a single woman member. We would, however, blame women themselves for the government’s present unwillingness to appoint at least one member from womenfolk, who constitute the majority of the country’s population. Continue reading “Will Not Women Awake? Editorial: Vanitakusumam” →

Women Should Not Abandon the Kitchen: Devaki Narikkaattiri

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Translated by J Devika

[ this is an earlier version of the translation that appeared in my book Her-Self, published by Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005, For a fuller, annotated version, please refer the book]

Narikkaattiri Devaki Antarjanam, popularly known as ‘Devaki Narikkattiri’ (1912- 2000), was one of the most prominent of the Malayala Brahmin women who came into public life in Keralam in the 1930s, defying the strict traditional seclusion (Ghosha) prescribed for Antarjanams (Malayala Brahmin women). Born at Koppam near Palakkad, she was brought up in an orthodox Malayala Brahmin household. Her husband, Vamanan Narikkattiri, was an ardent reformer. She was excommunicated from her family along with her pro-reform husband and his brother for their activism. Later, they opened an eating-house near the Brahmasvam Matam at Thrissur named ‘Sudharnnavam’. Along with this, she continued to be very visible as a public speaker. She was attracted to political affairs, and was an inmate of the Wardha Ashram for some time. Later she drew close to Communist politics and worked at the Party’s commune in Kozhikode, and in the Deshabhimani. Several of her articles were published in the 1930s..

 

    [‘Streekal Adukkala Upekshikkarutu’, Stree 1 (1), M. E 1108, Edavam (May-June1933-33): 24-5]

The struggle for women’s independence has become intense in these times. Modern women are striving to gain equal rights and representation along with men in government jobs and legislative bodies. They have begun to intervene in affairs issues that affect the whole world today. Thus to remark that women should not abandon the kitchen, in these days in which they are fighting for comprehensive freedoms, may sound narrow and unsophisticated to many. Besides, many may ready themselves to attack it with disdainful objections. I say to them: I am a woman. Yes, I am an Antarjanam (a Malayala Brahmin woman. Literally, ‘a resident of the Inner-Quarters’) who has borne for some time the bitterness of bondage. I too wish that women should have freedom and responsibility, and that their service must secure the well-being of people. To achieve this, it is very necessary to retain one’s hold on the kitchen. I will spell out this further. Though weak and fettered, we do have, to a certain extent, influence in the kitchen. If we deploy this power with a sense of responsibility, our bondage and weaknesses will depart hastily. Moreover, the kitchen may be regarded as an ideal site from which one may serve the world. Kitchen-centered efforts will go a long way to foster the reform of custom, health, moral consciousness, and other such matters.

Referring to the reform of custom can elucidate this fact. These are times in which the struggle to destroy untouchability is quickening. But protest is largely limited to conference-halls and news features; it has not yet begun to set foot in the kitchen. This is a major shortcoming. Actually, today, the kitchen is the place where untouchability and other evil customs are entrenched. There are many today who leave outside their doorstep the progressiveness and lofty ideals they profess in public, not daring to bring them inside the home. Why is this so? Because women’s efforts have been inadequate, I would say. It is the primary duty of the women to banish baneful customs from the kitchen and foster enlightened ideas there. Many egregious customs, ridden with superstition, are observed within homes. Women are usually responsible for this state of affairs. Generally, in all families, it is the opinion of the women that is reflected in internal affairs. With sincere effort from them, it will be possible to instil enlightened ideals in homes within the space of a generation. Children are raised within the ambit of the mother’s influence. The common practice we see is that of mothers imbuing their children with superstition and faith in outrageous customs, along with breast-milk. In place of this, mothers ought to strive to inculcate in them such worthy qualities as courage, patience, truthfulness and the sense of independence.

Food is the major source of health. It is prepared, of course, in the kitchen. Cooking is not servile labour. On the contrary, it is a task of much consequence.  It is our foremost duty to acquire practical proficiency in scientific ways of preparing food. Persuasion is the best way of ridding society of bad habits like drinking, which are harmful to both body and mind. Thus society has much to profit from efforts focused on the kitchen. In sum, the kitchen is the engine of the ship that is the community. Women are its captains.

Esteemed readers, please do not misunderstand me: all that has been said does not mean that I am in favour of women limiting themselves to nooks and corners within kitchens, shut away from sunlight. Women must enter any high status deemed essential for humankind. They must be capable of doing any sort of work. Women must win full freedom to defend their sense of dignity and fulfil their commitments. (But) One cannot but say that the kitchen is the foundation of the community and that women are chiefly responsible for how it is. From cottage to palace, everyone can partake in reforming the kitchen. Indeed, reform that does not root itself in the kitchen cannot be long-lived.

 

 

 

 

 

The Author

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘The Craze for Imitation’: C P Kalyani Amma

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Translated by J Devika

[ this is an earlier version of the translation that appeared in my book Her-Self, published by Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005, For a fuller, annotated version, please refer the book]

[ ‘Anukaranabhramam’, Lakshmibhayi 10 (12) M.E. 1090  Meenam  (March- April 1914-15): 457- 63]

 

I read the article titled ‘The Craze for Imitation’ by Puttezhattu Raman Menon B.A. We have been braving the reprimands of Granduncles and the contempt and derision of people and the newspapers; I am not at all surprised that Mr. Menon has launched a belligerent offensive. Continue reading “‘The Craze for Imitation’: C P Kalyani Amma” →

Women and Freedom: B Pachi Amma

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Translated by J Devika

[ this is an earlier version of the translation that appeared in my book Her-Self, published by Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005, For a fuller, annotated version, please refer the book]

[ ‘Streekalum Swatantryavum (Bhagam- 1)’, The Mahila 1 (3), March 1921: 108-13]

[This seems to be a pseudonym, probably used by B Bhageerathy Amma]

Good heavens! Many eyes will redden, many faces will be etched with deep frowns, upon seeing these two words written together! Many may decide to reject the article without reading it or indeed, fling down the magazine in a huff. I would like humbly request such readers to resort to such imprudent acts only after reading the whole article. Continue reading “Women and Freedom: B Pachi Amma” →

Women and Literature: B Bhageerathy Amma

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Translated by J Devika

[ this is an earlier version of the translation that appeared in my book Her-Self, published by Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005, For a fuller, annotated version, please refer the book]

Bhageeraty Amma (1890- 1938) was one of the most vocal advocates of an active, informed and disciplined domestic role for women in early 20th century Kerala. She was well-known as the editor of The Mahila, one of the longest-lived Women’s magazines of the period. She was known to be a powerful public speaker, and was one of the women considered for membership in the Shree Mulam Praja Sabha in 1927 (Malayala Manorama, 23 June 1927). Her major work, Stree (1925) described in detail her vision of ‘active’ domesticity as opposed to the traditional passive wifely devotion and was dedicated to “the womenfolk of Keralam”. Vijnanaprakasham was another work. The following article was a speech she made at the fifth annual meeting of the literary assembly, the Kerala Sahitya Parishat. Her presence at the Parishat meetings did make a difference: in the meeting at Ernakulam, she argued against the practice of holding a separate women’s meeting, pointing out that it was tantamount to segregating women, and that the decision that women should not be made speakers in men’s literary meetings was misguided (The Mahila 12 (4,5) 1932: 58). Her essays on modern Womanhood, which appeared in The Mahila were collected in a book, Sahityaramam. Continue reading “Women and Literature: B Bhageerathy Amma” →

Welcome Speech : M Haleema Beevi

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Translated by J Devika

[This is an earlier version of the translation that appeared in my book Her-Self, published by Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005. For a fuller, annotated version, refer the book]

Haleema Beevi (1920-2000) was born in Adoor in Tiruvitamkoor. She and her sister were sent to school, quite against the normal practice for Muslim girls, and she studied up to the fifth class, braving stone throwing hooligans and other such deterrents. Married at the age of sixteen, she was encouraged in her public activities by her husband, who was close to prominent Muslim reformers of the time like Vakkom Abdul Khader Moulavi. She ran a magazine for women, the Muslim Vanita in the late 1930s, which later appeared under the name Vanita. In the 1940s, she started another publication, the Bharatachandrika, which was quite successful as a weekly, but ran into serious financial problems when it was converted into a daily. She left journalism in 1947, to make a brief attempt again in 1970, with a magazine titled Adhunika Vanita, which, however, proved unsuccessful. She ran a press at Tiruvalla, and during the period of persecution under Dewan C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer’s dictatorial regime, she learnt printing, composing and binding to print leaflets and other material for the protesters. She was a member of the Municipal Board of Tiruvalla, the first Muslim woman to become a Municipal Councillor, the president of the Tiruvalla Muslim Women’s Association, and an active member of the Muslim Majlis. Interest in her life and work has finally grown stronger with a new generation of young Muslim women in Kerala taking an active interest in gender identity and the possibilities in the faith for gender equality. A new biography of her is forthcoming.

Continue reading “Welcome Speech : M Haleema Beevi” →

Our Women: Nidheerikkal Mariam (Mrs I C Chacko)

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Translated by J Devika

[This is an earlier version of the translation that appeared in my book Her-Self, published by Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005. For a fuller, annotated version, refer the book]

 

Nidheerikkal Mariam, later Mrs. I. C. Chacko, (1892-1966) was born in a distinguished Syrian Christian family in Alappuzha, as the daughter of a well-known lawyer, Nidheerikkal Cyriac. She was educated in Thiruvananthapuram, passing the F. A examination from the Maharajah’s College for Women. However, unlike two of her younger sisters Teresa Nidhiry and Anna Nidhiry, who both had careers in education, she did not pursue her studies. At seventeen, she was married off to I.C. Chacko, who was to be known as a brilliant scholar and intellectual in Tiruvitamkoor. She was known to be an outspoken and uncompromising champion of women’s rights. The article below is the speech she made at the women’s meeting held as part of the All-Kerala Catholic Conference at Pala in Tiruvitamkoor in 1924-25. I. C. Chacko’s biographer notes that the speech created a veritable storm within the community, and that she and her husband received threatening letters after that. She is also said to have published a volume of stories titled Sanmargakathakal.

Continue reading “Our Women: Nidheerikkal Mariam (Mrs I C Chacko)” →

On the Freedom of Women: Anna Chandy

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Translated by J Devika

[this is an earlier version of my translation that appeared in my book Her-Self, which was published by Stree/Samya, Kolkata, 2005. For a fuller, annotated version, please refer the book]

     Anna Chandy (1905-1996) was one of the most articulate representatives of the ‘first-generation’ feminists in Malayali society, but she is now much better known for her remarkable career. Brought up in Thiruvananthapuram, she earned a post-graduate degree with distinction in 1926, and went on to become the first woman in Kerala to earn a degree in Law. She joined the Bar in 1929 and soon earned fame as an eminent practitioner in Criminal Law, and as an ardent champion of women’s rights, especially in the publication she founded and edited, Shrimati. She was a member of the Shree Mulam Popular Assembly between 1932-34, and was appointed  First Grade Munsif in 1937, the first Malayali woman to occupy the post. In 1948, she became District Judge and a High Court Judge in 1959. She also served as a member of the Law Commission after her retirement in 1967. Her autobiography was serialised in the Malayala Manorama in 1971, and published under the title Atmakatha in 1973 (Thrissur: Carmel Books). Continue reading “On the Freedom of Women: Anna Chandy” →

Miss Kumari’s Stardom : Malayalam’s First Studio Actress — Darshana S Mini.

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 The decade of 1950s witnessed the efflorescence of film studios based in Kerala along with a burgeoning pool of local talent in Malayalam cinema. Among the locally discovered actresses was Thresiamma, who in a short time stole the limelight under the screen name “Miss Kumari” and became one of the most visible faces of the Malayalam studio films. Continue reading “Miss Kumari’s Stardom : Malayalam’s First Studio Actress — Darshana S Mini.” →