Sugathakumari


Sugathakumari is an Indian poet and activist, who has been at the forefront of environmental and feminist movements in Kerala, South India. Her parents were the poet and freedom fighter Bodheswaran and V. K. Karthiyayini, a Sanskrit scholar. She is influenced by her poet father's social activism and nationalistic fervour.
She is 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 was the former chairperson of the Kerala State Women's Commission. She played a big role in the Save Silent Valley protest.
Sugathakumari has won numerous awards and recognitions including Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Odakkuzhal Award, Vayalar Award, Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award, Asan Prize, Vallathol Award, Kerala Sahithya Akademi Fellowship, Ezhuthachan Puraskaram and Saraswati Samman. In 2006, she was honoured with Padma Shri, the country's fourth highest civilian honour.

Early life

Sugathakumari was born in Aranmula on 3 January 1934 in the Vazhuvelil Tharavadu. Her father Bodheswaran was a famous Gandhian thinker and writer, involved in the country's freedom struggle. V. K. Karthiyayini, her mother, was a well known scholar and teacher of Sanskrit. After completing her graduation from the University College, Thiruvananthapuram, she took a master's degree in Philosophy in 1955, and did research for three years on 'Comparative Study of the Concept of Moksha in Indian Schools of Philosophy', but did not complete the thesis.

Personal life

Sugathakumari's husband Dr. K. Velayudhan Nair was an educationist and writer. An expert in educational psychology, Nair has to his credit several works, including a widely acclaimed study on Sri Aurobindo's philosophy. They have a daughter, Lakshmi. Sugathakumari's elder sister Hridayakumari was a literary critic, orator and educationist. Hridayakumari won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for 1991 for her book Kalpanikatha, a study on romanticism in Malayalam literature.

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 Sahithya Akademi for her work Pathirappookal. Raathrimazha won the Kendra Sahitya Academy Award in 1978. Her other collections include Paavam Manavahridayam, Muthuchippi, Irulchirakukal and Swapnabhoomi. Sugathakumari's earlier poetry mostly dealt with the tragic quest for love and is considered more lyrical compared to 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 is perhaps the most sensitive and most philosophical of contemporary Malayalam poets. Her poetry has always drawn upon her sadness and unhappiness. "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," says Sugathakumari. Sugathakumari's most famous works include Raathrimazha, Ambalamani and Manalezhuthu. Sugathakumari has also made contribution to the field of children's literature. In 2008, she received an Award for Lifetime Contribution to Children's Literature, instituted by the State Institute of Children's Literature. She also has several translated works to her credit.
She has won numerous other awards for her literary works, including the prestigious Vayalar Award and Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary honour by Government of Kerala. In 2004, she was given the Kerala Sahithya Akademi Fellowship. She won the prestigious Saraswati Samman in 2012, being only the third Malayalam writer to do so. She also won "Pandit Karuppan Award. She was the principal of Kerala State Jawahar Balabhavan, Thiruvananthapuram. She is the founder chief editor of Thaliru, a children's magazine published by Kerala State Institute of Children's Literature.

Social activity

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 in Kerala, from submersion as a result of a planned hydroelectric project. Her poem "Marathinu Stuthi" 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 founder 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 seventies and served as the chairperson of the Kerala State Women's Commission.
Although she is best known as a poet environmentalist, Kumari is also the founder of Abhaya – an organisation which gives shelter and hope to female mental patients. Her work to launch Abhaya was prompted by an off-chance visit to the government-run Mental Hospital in the capital, Thiruvananthapuram. There women were housed in 19th century conditions, sexually abused and regularly prostituted to men in the neighbouring police camp. When she visited the hospital she saw 'women's bodies covered with sores and stark naked. They were emaciated and their hair was matted. They didn't even look like human beings.' The horror of this experience was embedded in her mind and she decided on the spot to do something about it, despite opposition to interventions from ngos by professionals in the field.
Sugatha Kumari has 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.

Works

; Civilian honours
; Literary awards
; Other awards