Sugathakumari (22 January 1934 – 23 December 2020) was an Indian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

and activist, who was at the forefront of environmental and feminist movements in

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 C ...

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and T ...

. Her parents were the poet and freedom fighter Bodheswaran and V. K. Karthiyayini Amma, a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

scholar. She was the founder secretary of the Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi, an organisation for the protection of nature, and of Abhaya, a home for destitute women and a day-care centre for the mentally ill. She chaired the Kerala State Women's Commission. She played a prominent role in the Save Silent Valley protest. Sugathakumari's notable works included ''Muthuchippikal, Pathirapookkal, Krishna Kavithakal, Ratrimazha,'' and ''Manalezhuthu.'' She won numerous awards and recognitions including Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (1968), Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award (1978), Odakkuzhal Award (1982),

Vayalar Award The Vayalar Award is given for the best literary work in Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malay ...

(1984), Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award (1986), Asan Prize (1991),

Vallathol Award Vallathol Award is a literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come ...

(2003),

Kerala Sahitya Akademi The Kerala Sahitya Akademi or Academy for Malayalam literature is an autonomous body established to promote the Malayalam language and literature. It is situated in City of Thrissur, Kerala in India. History The academy was inaugurated on 15 ...

Fellowship (2004), Ezhuthachan Puraskaram (2009),

Saraswati Samman The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any of the 22 languages of India listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India. It is named after the Hindu goddess of knowledge, Saraswati. The Saras ...

(2012), Mathrubhumi Literary Award (2014) and

O. N. V. Literary Award The O. N. V. Literary Award is awarded annually by O. N. V. Cultural Academy from 2017 in memory of poet O. N. V. Kurup (1931–2016). The award is a national award for which writers from across India are considered for their overall contributions ...

(2017). In 2006, she was honoured with

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

, the country's fourth-highest civilian honour.

Early life

Sugathakumari was born in

Aranmula Aranmula is a temple town in the state of Kerala, India. It is known as the cultural capital of Pathanamthitta district, located at a distance of around 116 km from Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, it is situated on the banks of the ...

on 22 January 1934 in the modern day southern Indian state of Kerala (then in the

Kingdom of Travancore The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

). Her father Keshava Pillai, known as Bodheswaran, was a famous

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest 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, environmentalism, ...

thinker and writer, who was involved in the country's freedom struggle. V. K. Karthiyayini Amma, her mother, was a well-known scholar and teacher of

. Sugathakumari was the second of the three daughters of her parents, following an elder sister named Hrdayakumari, and preceding a younger sister named Sujatha Devi, both of them who excelled in literary field. After graduating from the

University College, Thiruvananthapuram University College, Thiruvananthapuram (UCT) is a constituent college of the University of Kerala, based primarily in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. The college was awarded 23rd rank by National Institutional Ran ...

, Sugathakumari completed her master's degree in philosophy from

Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram, also known as H.H. The Maharaja's College for Women, is one of the oldest women's college located in Trivandrum, Kerala. It was established in the year 1864 under the University of Madras. Ac ...

in 1955, and spent three years researching on the topic of 'Comparative Study of the Concept of Moksha in Indian Schools of Philosophy', but did not complete the thesis. Sugathakumari was the former state vice president of Kerala Students Uniun KSU ... ..she worked KSU 3 years 1959 1962

Literary career

Sugathakumari's first poem, which she published under a pseudonym in a weekly journal in 1957, attracted wide attention. In 1968, Sugathakumari won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry for her work ''Pathirappookal'' (''Flowers of Midnight''). ''Raathrimazha'' (''Night Rain'') won the Kendra Sahitya Academy Award in 1978. Her other collections include ''Paavam Manavahridayam, Muthuchippi, Manalezhuth, Irulchirakukal'' and ''Swapnabhoomi''. Sugathakumari's earlier poetry mostly dealt with the tragic quest for love and is considered more lyrical than her later works, in which the quiet, lyrical sensibility is replaced by increasingly feminist responses to social disorder and injustice. Environmental issues and other contemporary problems are also sharply portrayed in her poetry. Sugathakumari has been described as among the most sensitive and most philosophical of contemporary Malayalam poets. Her poetry drew on her sadness. In an interview, she said, "I have been inspired to write mostly through my emotional upheavals; few of my poems can be called joyous. But these days I feel I'm slowly walking away from it all, to a world that is futile or meaningless". Sugathakumari's most famous works include ''Raathrimazha'', ''Ambalamani (temple bell)'' and ''Manalezhuthu''. Sugathakumari also wrote children's literature, receiving an Award for Lifetime Contribution to Children's Literature, instituted by the State Institute of Children's Literature, in 2008. She also translated many pieces of work into Malayalam. She won numerous other awards for her literary works, including the

and Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary honour from the Government of Kerala. In 2004, she was given the

Fellowship. She won the

in 2012, being only the third Malayalam writer to do so. She also won the Pandit Karuppan Award. She was the principal of Kerala State Jawahar Balabhavan, Thiruvananthapuram. She was the founding chief editor of ''Thaliru'', a children's magazine published by Kerala State Institute of Children's Literature.

Social activism

A committed conservationist, Sugathakumari served as the secretary of the Society for Conservation of Nature, Thiruvananthapuram. In the late 1970s she led a successful nationwide movement, known as Save Silent Valley, to save some of the oldest natural forests in the country, the

Silent Valley Silent may mean any of the following: People with the name * Silent George, George Stone (outfielder) (1876–1945), American Major League Baseball outfielder and batting champion * Brandon Silent (born 1973), South African former footballer * C ...

in Kerala, from submersion as a result of a planned hydroelectric project. Her poem ''Marathinu Stuthi'' (Ode to a Tree) became a symbol for the protest from the intellectual community and was the opening song of most of the Save Silent Valley campaign meetings. She was the founding secretary of the Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi, an organisation for the protection of nature. She was also actively involved with various women's movements of the 1970s and served as the chair of the Kerala State Women's Commission. Sugathakumari also founded Abhaya (refuge), an organisation that provides shelter to female mental patients, after being appalled at conditions in the government-run mental hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. Three women led by social activist and artist G. Geetha, demanded a probe into the rape of a Dalit inmate woman by two counselors and the hostel warden of 'Abhaya' in 2002. Sugathakumari received the Bhattia Award for Social Science, the Sacred Soul International Award, the Lakshmi Award for social service, and the first Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award from the Government of India for her efforts in environmental conservation and afforestation.

Personal life

Sugathakumari's husband Dr. K. Velayudhan Nair (died 2003) was an educationist and writer who was an expert in educational psychology. They had a daughter, Lekshmi Devi. Sugathakumari's elder sister Hridayakumari was a literary critic, orator and educationist. The Kerala government declared Sugathakumari's ancestral house, Vazhuvelil Tharavadu, as a protected monument on her 84th birthday. Sugathakumari died on 23 December 2020, due to complications from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

, at the Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, thirty days short from her 87th birthday. She was cremated with full state honours at Santhikavadam crematorium in Thiruvananthapuram on the same day.

Works

*''Mutthuchippi'' (''Pearl and Oyster''; 1961) *''Pathirappookkal'' (''Midnight Flowers''; 1967) *''Paavam Pavam Manava Hrudayam'' (''Poor Human Heart''; 1968) *''Pranamam'' (''Salutation''; 1969) *''Irul Chirakukal'' (''The Wings of Darkness''; 1969) *''Raathrimazha'' (''Night Rain''; 1977) *''Ambalamani'' (''Temple Bell''; 1981) *''Kurinjippookkal'' (''Kurinji Flowers''; 1987) Pavada was also one of her works *''Thulaavarshappacha'' (''The Monsoon Green''; 1990) *''Radhayevide'' (''Where is Radha?''; 1995) *''Devadasi'' (1998) *''Manalezhuthu'' (''The Writing on the Sand''; 2006) *''Abhisarika'' *''Sugathakumariyude Kavithakal'' (2006) *''Krishnakavithakal'' (2008) *''Megham Vannu Thottappol'' (2010) *''Poovazhi Maruvazhi'' *''Kaadinu Kaaval''

Awards and recognitions

Civilian honours

* 2006:

Literary awards

* 1968: Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry for ''Pathirappookkal'' * 1978: Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for ''Rathrimazha'' * 1982: Odakkuzhal Award for ''Ambalamani'' * 1984:

for ''Ambalamani'' * 1990: Asan Prize * 2001: Lalithambika Sahitya Award * 2003:

* 2004:

Fellowship * 2004: Balamaniamma Award * 2007: P. Kunhiraman Nair Award for ''Manalezhuthu'' * 2008: Mahakavi Pandalam Keralavarma Poetry Award * 2008: Award for Lifetime Contribution to Children's Literature * 2009: Ezhuthachan Award * 2009: Basheer Puraskaram * 2012:

for ''Manalezhuthu'' * 2013: PKV Award for Literature * 2013: Pandit Karuppan Award * 2014: VT Literary Award * 2014: Mathrubhumi Literary Award * 2014: Thoppil Bhasi Award * 2017:

* 2017: P. Kesavadev Literary Award * 2019: Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan Award

Other awards

* 1986: Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award * 2006: Panampilly Prathibha Puraskaram * 2007: Streesakti Award * 2007: K. Kunhirama Kurup Award * 2009: M.T.Chandrasenan Award

References

External links

* * *
Leading Lights – Smt. Sugathakumari

Sugathakumari excerpts from an Interview
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