“What would the womenfolk of that time dream of, other than having enough to eat, wear and for a lasting marriage?” wrote Devaki Nilayamgode in her book Kaalappakarchakal.
All her writings bring to light the changing roles of women over time in that almost forgotten era. Her soliloquies bear testimony to the fact that the definition of autobiography as a metaphorical bridge built between a sense of self-consciousness and objective reality best suits autobiographies of women. At 75, an antharjanam, a Namboothiri woman, she began to relate her life story in a bid to understand for herself the stages of development of her personality and their historical import.
And the period of life chosen by her to take a dispassionate, cold, comprehensive look at her conflict-ridden internal social anxieties! Thus, she began to pen her history at the ripe age of 75. And that mission turned out to be the history of that time and opened up vistas of renaissance.
“I’m a 75-year-old antharjanam. Name is Devaki. A member of the Nilayamgode illam” – that is how she recorded her pathway in her autobiography Nashtabodhangalillathe (With No Regrets). Her writing ends with the dignified assertion that there no longer exists a separate autobiography for a Namboothiri or an antharjanam and that they have all become regular people. She spoke to the society in her own ways before bidding adieu.
Her life stories begin on strict personal notes but soon traverse the infernos repressed behind those palm-leaf umbrellas of Namboothiri women. They are also about the social reform movements led by women, including her, to lead the Namboothiri women towards light. She adopted a simple style – calm and unembellished – without praising or condemning anything as if it was all a quirk of history. But her train of thought stays intact, punctuated as it is by her observations about the system, questioning and complaints. Had she now shown the light on them, they would have remained as pockets of darkness in history.
Until memory failed her, she continued to narrate calmly the history of the struggles and resistance led by the indefatigable women of her generation.
Devaki functioned as secretary and treasurer of the Antharjana Samajam that was formed in 1931 as part of the Namboothiri Yogakshema Sabha. She was not touched by caste consciousness or pride. Living as part of the Namboothiri community – then a den of casteism, untouchability, superstitions and vile conventions – she embraced progressive standpoints till the end of her life.
Thozhil Kendrathilekku (To the Workplace) was a 1948 play scripted and directed by Namboothiri women who played both the male and female characters in it. It was presented by a few Namboothiri women with a strong sense of freedom, aimed at reforming the community. The play valiantly presents the history of a period and Devaki’s ideas played a major role in its staging.
It was revolutionary to think that the message of education and work as inevitable for Namboothiri women should be propagated through the play. The fund-raising notice of the play read thus: “Lovers of art, you have no idea who an antharjanam is. Haven’t you seen two legs behind a palm-leaf umbrella pacing past, as a voice shoos away those on the way? That was the antharjanam of old. Haven’t you seen the courageous women unflinchingly leading the movements against inequality and weakening of women? That’s today’s antharjanam.”
Devaki also recorded the reformed society with the assertion that “antharjanams have become regular people, like everyone else”. That is how she ended her writing. E.M.S. Namboodiripad gave the call ‘to make Namboothiri a human’ and Devaki concluded that it had happened.
She gave tremendous support to women’s right to free thinking and action. A textbook that today’s women, who consider work as spouse and workplace as home, can emulate meticulously.
(The author is a writer and columnist)
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