Kaumudi teacher (16 July 1917, Vayakkara - 4 August 2009) was a Gandhian and an Indian freedom activist from

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the maj ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

. She was known for voluntarily donating her ornaments to Gandhi when the latter visited

Vatakara Vatakara, also known as Vadakara () (formerly Badagara, ), is a municipality, taluk and a major town in the Kozhikode district in Indian state of Kerala. The municipality of Vatakara covers an area of and is bordered by Mahé to the north and ...

on 14 January 1934 which was acknowledged by Gandhi when he wrote an article "Kaumudi's renunciation" in

Young India ''Young India'' was a book written by Lala Lajpat Rai in 1916 and later published by Mahatma Gandhi from 1919 to 1931. It was also the basis for Lala Lajpat Rai's contribution to the final edition of The Seven Arts in Oct 2017. Through this wo ...

. Kaumudi Teacher died on 4 August 2009 at Kadachira in Kannur.

Early life

Kaumudi Teacher, a

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi,one of the prominent figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environ ...

, renounced gold ornaments to

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

in the year 1934 for his Harijan fund collection, for the cause of freedom struggle. Kaumudi was born in a royal family to A K Ramavarma Raja and Devaki Kettilamma on May 17, 1917, at Vayakkara in

. She later began to take interest in the India freedom struggle and pledged to not wear ornaments after her act of renunciation for the cause of

Harijan Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

s in 1934.

Career

After matriculation, she studied

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and got appointed as the first Hindi teacher in Malabar, at the Government Girls High School. A disciple of Vinobha Bhave, she had also been associated with the Bhoodhan Movement. She retired from service in 1972 and worked in the ashram of

Vinobha Bhave Vinayak Narahar Bhave, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called ''Acharya'' (Teacher in Sanskrit), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. H ...

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

. She was also a frequent visitor to Sewagram and Paunar ashrams. She later devoted herself to propagation of

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi as Swadeshi movement, ''swadeshi (of homeland)'' for the freedom struggle of India and the term is used throughout the Indian sub ...

and teaching Hindi and decided not to wear ornaments. Kaumudi Teacher's heroic sacrifice has been included in text books as well. She remained unmarried and has been honoured by various Gandhian organizations.

Kaumudi's renunciation

Gandhi had been on a visit to Vatakara on January 14, 1934, in connection with the fund raising for the Harijan Sahaya Samithi. Answering Gandhi's appeal for donation, Kaumudi Teacher gave her gold ornaments to him for the larger cause of the Indian freedom movement. She was only 17 years of age at the time. Her sacrifice was acknowledged by Gandhi in his article titled, ‘Kaumudi’s Renunciation,' which was published in 'Young India.' This text was later translated to all Indian languages and made part of school syllabus. In his article, Gandhi mentions gives an account of the events that had transpired on the day the renunciation was made. After Gandhi finished giving his speech at Badagara, he had made a reasoned appeal to the women present for jewellery to be donated for raising funds for the Harijan Sahaya Nidhi. Following the speech, Kaumudi took out one bangle and asked Gandhi if he would give his autograph. He was preparing to give it, when off came the other bangle, she had only one on each hand. Upon seeing this, Gandhi said, “You need not give me both, I shall give you the autograph for one bangle only.” She replied by taking off her golden necklace, even as she struggled to disengage it from her long plait of hair, in which the necklace was entangled. She did so, in the presence of a large gathering of both men and women. Upon being asked by Gandhi, on whether she had had the permission of her parents to donate the jewellery, she gave no answer and went ahead in also donating her earring. Gandhi later claims to have found out that her father too was as generous as her, in fact he too was a part of the meeting and was even helping in bidding for the addresses that Gandhi was auctioning. Gandhi then scribbled in an autograph for her, ''Tumhara tyag tumhara bhushan hoga.'' As he handed her the autograph, he prefaced it with the remark, “Your renunciation is a truer ornament than the jewellery you have discarded."

Death and legacy

Kaumudi Teacher died 4 August 2009 in Kannur at the age of 92, due to her failing health. She died a spinster at her brother's residence at Kadachira, after struggling with age-related health problems. On the day of cremation, many a people gathered to pay their respects to her. A contingent of police personnel also offered a gun salute before the body of the 92-year-old Gandhian was taken for cremation. The ceremony observed, the Additional District Magistrate Sudheer Babu also placing a wreath on behalf of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teacher, Kaumudi Indian independence activists from Kerala Indian rebels People from Kannur district 1917 births 2009 deaths Malayali people Gandhians Women Indian independence activists Women in Kerala politics 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people Military personnel from Kerala