Lalithambika Antharjanam (March 30, 1909 – February 6, 1987) was an Indian author and social reformer best known for her literary works in
Malayalam language
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was d ...
. She was influenced by
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
and social reform movements among the
Nambuthiri
The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal el ...
caste led by V. T. Bhattathiripaatu
and her writing reflects a sensitivity to the women's role in society, in the family and as an individual. Her published oeuvre consists of nine volumes of short stories, six collections of poems, two books for children, and a novel, ''
Agnisakshi'' (1976) which won the
Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award
The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
and
Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award
Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award is given each year, since 1958, by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy), to Malayalam writers for their outstanding books of literary merit. The awards are given in various categories. in 1977. Her autobiography ''Aathmakadhakkoru Aamukham'' (''An Introduction to Autobiography'') is also considered a significant work in
Malayalam literature
Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...
.
Biography
Lalithambika Antha Janam was born on March 30, 1909 at Kottavattom near
Punalur
Punalur is a Municipality in Kollam district of Kerala State in India. It is the headquarter of the Punalur Taluk and Punalur Revenue Division. It's situated in the eastern part of Kollam district of Kerala, on the banks of the Kallada River an ...
,
Kollam district
Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 List of districts in Kerala, districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major Lac ...
, in the south Indian state of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, in a conservative household to Kottavattathu Illathu Damodaran Namboothiri and Changarappilli Manaykkal Aryadevi Antharjanam.
She had little formal education, however, her father appointed a private tutor who taught the child, which was unusual at the time.
[Contains the translation "Revenge Herself", tr. Vasanti Sankaranarayan]
Although she was part of the most powerful landholding
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
caste of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, Lalithambika's life-work was the exposure and destruction of the hypocrisy, violence and injustice with which women were treated in Nambudiri society. She was not allowed to study in school, and could only glean scraps of information about the outside world through male relatives who were kind enough to tell her about current affairs. She knew a little about the ongoing
Indian freedom movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...
, and longed to take part. In 1926, she was married in the prescribed way to the farmer Narayanan Nambudiri.
As a wife, she now lost all contact with the outside world and her day consisted of a claustrophobic routine of hard physical labour in smoky kitchens and damp closed courtyards, petty domestic politics and the fears and jealousies of other similarly imprisoned women. But she also saw their courage and their determination to be human in spite of the unnatural conditions of their lives. In this world her only outlet was her writing, which she did in secret. At the end of a working day that began before dawn, she would put her children to sleep, bar the door and write in the light of a tiny lamp. Constant exposure to smoke and inadequate lighting began to destroy her eyes. When the pain got very bad, she would write with her eyes closed. The frustration and degradation of her caste sisters moved Lalithambika to expose their plight in her celebrated Malayalam novel ''
Agnisakshi'' (Fire being the Witness).
The novel was later made into a
film with the same title in 1997.
Nambudiri custom allowed only the eldest son to marry within the caste; all the others contracted ''
sambandham
Sambandham was an informal mode of marriage followed by Nairs, Samantha Kshatriyas, Kshatriyas, and Ambalavasis among their own communities as well as with the Nambudiris, in what is the present day state of Kerala, India. All of these were m ...
s'' with women from other castes, usually the matrilineal
Nair
The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histo ...
s. This ensured that inheritance through the male line was always undisputed, since the children of ''sambandhams'' did not have the right to inherit. As a result, many Nambudiri women remained unmarried all their lives, in restrictions that amounted to rigorous imprisonment. They were not supposed to let the sun's rays touch their bodies. Any slip or shadow of suspicion would condemn them to being tried by the ''
smarthavicharam'' courts of male elders. These courts were empowered to strip a woman of her social position and throw her out to starve. For these women, who were not even allowed to look out of windows, such a fate was psychologically as well as economically devastating.
On the rare occasions when ''antharjanams'' left the house, they had to envelope their whole bodies in a thick cloak, and carry a leaf umbrella whose canopy reached to their waists, so that they could only see their own feet when walking. By contrast, lower caste women were required by law to bare their breasts when in the presence of higher caste men, and could be punished for not doing so. They thus habitually went with their upper bodied uncovered, and many reformist and missionary movements in early twentieth century Kerala clothed lower caste women by force to uplift them. By the 1930s, most royal households (who were below Brahmins, caste-wise) were allowing their women to wear blouses, but the practice took longer to percolate downwards to poorer families, especially as blouses were quite costly.
In her story ''Revenge Herself'' (English translation anthologised in ''The Inner Courtyard''
[), she highlights the moral and sexual choices faced by upper caste Nambudiri women, who were secluded in the inner house, through the story of the "fallen woman" Tatri. This is especially sensitive in Kerala, where ]Nair
The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histo ...
women are relatively free sexual lives in their matriarchal culture. In her story ''Mulappalinte Manam'' she highlights the woman's role as the central cohesive force in society, and she supports artificial birth control, so long as it does not contradict this basic womanly qualities of healing the schisms opened up by individualism.[J. Devika]
Family planning as liberation: the ambiguities of "emancipation from biology" in Kerala
Working paper version),''Inter-Asia Cultural Studies''Volume 7, Issue 1 March 2006 , pages 43–61
From her marriage with Narayanan Naboothiri, she had three sons, Bhaskara Kumar, N. Mohanan and Rajendran and four daughters, Leela, Shantha, Rajam and Mani. N. Mohanan was also a noted author and a recipient of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award
Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award is given each year, since 1958, by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy), to Malayalam writers for their outstanding books of literary merit. The awards are given in various categories. .
Awards and honours
* Sahitya Akademi Award
The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
(1977)
* Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel
The Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel is an award given every year by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (Kerala Literary Academy) to Malayalam writers for writing a novel of literary merit. It is one of the twelve categories of the Kerala Sahitya ...
(1977)
* Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship
Notable works
* ''Adyathe Kathakal'' (First Stories), 1937
* ''Takarna Talamura'' (Ruined Generation), 1949
* ''Kilivaathililoode'' (Through the Pigeon Hole), 1950
* ''Kodumkatil Ninnu'' (From a Whirlwind), 1951
* ''Moodupadathil'' (Behind the Veil), 1955
* ''Agni Pushpangal'' (Flowers of Fire), 1960
* ''Seetha Muthal Satyavathi Vare'' (From Sita to Satyavati), 1972
* '' Agnisakshi'' (Fire being the Witness), 1976
Translations
*
*
*
See also
* Lalithambika Sahitya Award
Notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Antharjanam, Lalithambika
Malayalam-language writers
Malayalam novelists
Malayalam poets
Indian women short story writers
Indian independence activists from Kerala
Indian women novelists
Indian feminists
Indian women's rights activists
1909 births
1987 deaths
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Malayalam
Recipients of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award
Indian women essayists
Indian women poets
20th-century Indian women writers
20th-century Indian novelists
20th-century Indian poets
Indian social reformers
Writers from Kollam
20th-century Indian essayists
20th-century Indian short story writers
Women writers from Kerala
Women Indian independence activists
Novelists from Kerala