LALITHAMBIKA ANTHARJANAM

LALITHAMBIKA ANTHARJANAM

Lalithambika Antharjanam (1909–1987), was an author in Malayalam  . She was born in Kottavattom  Kottarkara, Kerala she had little formal education She was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Social Reform Movement among the Nambudiri caste led by VT Bhattathirippad. Later she contributed to the social reform in her own way. In 1927, she was married to Narayanan Nambudiri. She was Her published oeuvre consists of nine volumes of short stories, six collections of poems, two books for children, and a novel, Agnisakshi (1980) which won the Kerala  Sahitya Akademy award for the best literary work of that year. It was later made into a movie. Her autobiography Aathmakadhakkoru Aamukham, An introduction to autobiography, is a very significant work.

Her writing reflects sensitivity to the women's role in society, and the tension between the woman as a centre for bonding and the woman as an individual. She was concerned particularly the nature of the sexual contract. In her story Revenge Herself (English translation anthologized in The Inner Courtyardshe highlights the moral and sexual choices faced by uppercaste  Namboothiri women, who were secluded in the inner house, through the story of the "fallen woman" Tatri. This is especially sensitive in Kerala, where Nayar  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.  Lalithambika Antharjanam (1909, Kottavattom Kottarakara, Kerala – 1987), is an author in Malayalam. She was born on March 30, 1909, to a literary family - both her parents were poets - but she herself had little formal education. She grew up in a nation and a society in the midst of change. She married Narayanan Namboodri in 1927.

She became a political activist and a social reformer, participating in the Indian National Congress and later with the Kerala  Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M). Her published oeuvre consists of nine volumes of short stories, six collections of poems, two books for children, and a novel, Agnisakshi (1980) which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi for the best literary work of that year. It was later made into a movie.Her writing reflects a sensitivity to the women’s role in society, and the tension between the woman as a centre for bonding and the woman as an individual. She was concerned particularly the nature of the sexual contract. In her story Revenge Herself (English translation anthologized 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 Nayar 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
Initially she wrote poems and published her first collection in 1936. Later she published seven more collections, the best known of it being ‘Aayirathiri.’ Her short story collections include ‘Moodupadathil,’ ‘Kalathinde Edukal,’ ‘Kodumkattil Ninnu,’ ‘Irupathy Varshathinu Sesham,’ ‘Agnipushpangal,’ and ‘Dhirendu Majumdarude Amma.’At the age of sixty-seven she published her first novel, ‘Agnisakshi’, which won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1967. This wonderful novel reflects the conflicts between the orthodox and the progressive elements in the community. Her other works are ‘Kotumkattil petta oru ila ‘(a leaf caught in a typhoon) and ‘Manikyan.’ She passed away in 1987.

Prof. John Kurakar