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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian writer and social reformer (1909 –1987)}}<br />
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{{Infobox writer<br />
| name = Lalithambika Antharjanam<br />
| image = Lalithambika Antherjanam.jpg<br />
| alt = ...........<br />
| caption = lalithambika Antharjanam life history.<br />
| birth_name = lalithambika namboothiri<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1909|3|30}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Punalur]], [[Kollam district|Kollam]], [[India]]<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|2|6|1909|3|30}}<br />
| death_place = Njaliyakuzhi, [[Kottayam district]], Kerala<br />
| language = [[Malayalam]]<br />
| other_names = <br />
| notableworks = ''[[Agnisakshi (novel)|Agnisakshi]]'', ''Aathmakadhakkoru Aamukham''<br />
| occupation = Writer, social reformer<br />
| spouse = Narayanan Nambuthiri<br />
| children = Bhaskara Kumar, [[N. Mohanan]], Leela, Shantha, Rajam, Mani, Rajendran <br />
| relatives = {{ubl|Damodaran Namboothiri (father)|Aryadevi Antharjanam (mother)}}<br />
| awards = {{ubl|1977&nbsp;[[List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for Malayalam|Sahitya Akademi Award]]|1977&nbsp;[[Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel]]|[[Kerala Sahitya Akademi|Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship]]}}<br />
}}<br />
'''Lalithambika Antharjanam''' (March 30, 1909 – February 6, 1987) was an Indian author and social reformer best known for her literary works in [[Malayalam language]]. She was influenced by [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and social reform movements among the [[Nambuthiri]] caste led by V. T. Bhattathiripaatu<ref name="Lalithambika Antharjanam : The Writer Who Helped Shape Kerala's Feminist Literature">{{Cite web |url=https://feminisminindia.com/2019/03/30/lalithambika-antharjanam-kerala-writer/ |title=Lalithambika Antharjanam : The Writer Who Helped Shape Kerala's Feminist Literature |last=Devi |first=Gayatri |date=2019-03-29 |website=Feminism In India |language=en-US |access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref> 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 (novel)|Agnisakshi]]'' (1976) which won the [[Sahitya Akademi Award|Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award]] and [[Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1977. Her autobiography ''Aathmakadhakkoru Aamukham'' (''An Introduction to Autobiography'') is also considered a significant work in [[Malayalam literature]].<br />
<br />
==Biography==<br />
Lalithambika Antharjanam{{Refn|group=note|'Antharjanam' <br />
means 'she who spends her life inside'. Her first name is a compound of 'Lalitha' (Simple,) and 'Ambika' (literally 'little mother', the name of a goddess)}} was born on March 30, 1909 at Kottavattom near [[Punalur]], [[Kollam district]], in the south Indian state of [[Kerala]], in a conservative household to Kottavattathu Illathu Damodaran Namboothiri and Changarappilli Manaykkal Aryadevi Antharjanam.<ref name="Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/Lalithambika/Html/Lalithambikagraphy.htm |title=Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |date=2019-03-30 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref> She had little formal education, however, her father appointed a private tutor who taught the child, which was unusual at the time.<ref name=courtyard>{{cite book|title = The Inner Courtyard|editor = Lakshmi Holmström|publisher = Rupa & Co|year = 1991}}Contains the translation "Revenge Herself", tr. Vasanti Sankaranarayan</ref><br />
<br />
Although she was part of the most powerful landholding [[Brahmin]] caste of [[Kerala]], 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]], and longed to take part. In 1926, she was married in the prescribed way to the farmer Narayanan Nambudiri.<ref name="Profile of Malayalam Story Writer Lalithambika Antharjanam">{{Cite web |url=https://malayalasangeetham.info/displayProfile.php?artist=Lalithambika%2520Antharjanam&category=story |title=Profile of Malayalam Story Writer Lalithambika Antharjanam |date=2019-03-30 |website=malayalasangeetham.info |access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref> 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 (novel)|Agnisakshi]]'' (Fire being the Witness).<ref name="Agnisakshi by Lalithambika Antharjanam - Book Review">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralaculture.org/agnisakshi/705 |title=Agnisakshi by Lalithambika Antharjanam - Book Review |website=www.keralaculture.org |language=en |access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref> The novel was later made into a [[Agnisakshi (1998 film)|film with the same title]] in 1997.<br />
<br />
Nambudiri custom allowed only the eldest son to marry within the caste; all the others contracted ''[[sambandham]]s'' with women from other castes, usually the matrilineal [[Nair]]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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
In her story ''Revenge Herself'' (English translation anthologised in ''The Inner Courtyard''<ref name=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]] 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.<ref>J. Devika, [http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN010722.pdf 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</ref><br />
<br />
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]].<ref name="Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel N. Mohanan">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/ksa/Awards/novel.htm |title=Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel N. Mohanan |date=2019-03-30 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi |access-date=2019-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109145935/http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/ksa/Awards/novel.htm |archive-date=9 November 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />
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== Awards and honours ==<br />
* [[List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for Malayalam|Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1977)<ref name="Literary Awards">{{Cite web |url=http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/awards.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524212356/http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/awards.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-05-24 |title=Literary Awards |date=2007-05-24 |access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref><br />
* [[Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel]] (1977)<ref name="Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel N. Mohanan" /><br />
* [[Kerala Sahitya Akademi|Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship]]<ref name="Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/Fellows/Html/HonMembersPage-2.htm |title=Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship |date=2019-03-30 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi |access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref><br />
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==Selected works==<br />
* ''Adyathe Kathakal'' (First Stories), 1937<br />
* ''Takarna Talamura'' (Ruined Generation), 1949<br />
* ''Kilivaathililoode'' (Through the Pigeon Hole), 1950<br />
* ''Kodumkatil Ninnu'' (From a Whirlwind), 1951<br />
* ''Moodupadathil'' (Behind the Veil), 1955<br />
* ''Agni Pushpangal'' (Flowers of Fire), 1960 <br />
* ''Seetha Muthal Satyavathi Vare'' (From Sita to Satyavati), 1972<br />
* ''[[Agnisakshi (novel)|Agnisakshi]]'' (Fire being the Witness), 1976<br />
<br />
=== Translations ===<br />
* {{cite book|author=Lalithambika Antharjanam|title=Cast Me Out If You Will: Stories and Memoir|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2hVvqtygPi0C|year=1998|publisher=Stree|isbn=978-81-85604-11-4}}<br />
* {{cite book|author=Lalithambika Antharjanam|title=On the Far Side of Memory: Short Stories of Lalithambika Antharjanam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7789DwAAQBAJ|date=18 September 2017|publisher=OUP India|isbn=978-0-19-909153-9}}<br />
* {{cite book|author=N. Lalithambika Antharjanam|title=Agg Goah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HayAwgEACAAJ|year=2004|publisher=Sahitya Akademi Publications|isbn=978-81-260-1741-6}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Malayalam Literary Awards|Lalithambika Sahitya Award]]<ref name="Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel N. Mohanan" /><br />
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== Notes ==<br />
{{reflist|group=note}}<br />
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==References==<br />
<references/><br />
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== Further reading ==<br />
* {{cite book|author=Ester Gallo|title=The Fall of Gods: Memory, Kinship, and Middle Classes in South India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Z9MDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT96|date=15 February 2018|publisher=OUP India|isbn=978-0-19-909131-7|pages=96–}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/Lalithambika/Html/LalithambikaAntharjanam.htm |title=Portrait commissioned by Kerala Sahitya Akademi |date=2019-03-30 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi |access-date=2019-03-30}}<br />
* {{Cite web |url=https://www.sapnaonline.com/books/far-memory-short-stories-lalithambika-lalithambika-antharjanam-0199477787-9780199477784 |title=On the Far Side of Memory: Short Stories of Lalithambika Antharjanam by Lalithambika Antharjanam, J. Devika |date=2019-03-30 |access-date=2019-03-30}}<br />
* {{Cite web |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/women-writers-supply-the-literary-flourish/article22638463.ece |title=From Lalithambika Antharjanam to N.P. Sneha, women writers supply the literary flourish in Kerala budget speech |author=Staff Reporter |date=2018-02-03 |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |access-date=2019-03-30}}<br />
* {{cite book|author1=Harish Trivedi|author2=Richard Allen|title=Literature and Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9ufrUyISBsC&pg=PA322|year=2000|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-21207-6|pages=322–}}<br />
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{{Sahitya Akademi Award For Malayalam}}<br />
{{Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship}}<br />
{{Malayalam Literature |state=collapsed}}<br />
{{Vayalar Awards}}<br />
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{{authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Antharjanam, Lalithambika}}<br />
[[Category:Malayalam-language writers]]<br />
[[Category:Malayalam novelists]]<br />
[[Category:Malayalam poets]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women short story writers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Kerala]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women novelists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian feminists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]<br />
[[Category:1909 births]]<br />
[[Category:1987 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Malayalam]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women essayists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women poets]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]<br />
[[Category:Indian social reformers]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from Kollam]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian essayists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian short story writers]]<br />
[[Category:Women writers from Kerala]]<br />
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]<br />
[[Category:Novelists from Kerala]]</div>>JeffSpaceman