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C. K. Revathi Amma
Indian social activist (1891 - 1981) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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C. K. Revathi Amma was an Indian activist and Malayalam language writer from Kerala. In 1980, she won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Biography and Autobiography for her autobiography Sahasra Poornima.
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Biography
C. K. Revathi Amma was born into a prominent Thiyya family in Thalassery, Malabar District, (present-day Kannur district of Kerala) in 1891.[1][2] She was the daughter of Karai Damayanti, who was also a social activist.[2] Her maternal grandfather Karayi Bapu and his brother Karayi Kutty were businessmen who had relations with English companies.[3] She was educated at Thalassery Sacred Heart School.[4]
Personal life and death
Revathi Amma is married to Paidal, the police commissioner of French colony Mayyazhi (present-day Mahé, India).[5][6] After marriage she moved to Mayyazhi. Her son K. V. Padmanabhan was Indian ambassador to Thailand and Iran.[6] She died in 1981.[7]
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Activism
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Perspective
Revathi Amma was a woman welfare activist. She worked as the president of the Mahila Mandiram, a centre for educating and uplifting economically backward women.[3][8] After her marriage, Revathi Amma moved to Mayyazhi and led the women's liberation movement there. She started her social activism in Mayyazhi by trying to liberate the women of Mayyazhi.[2] In order to raise funds to help the people injured in warfor the French army, she conducted drama performances by girls in Mayyazhi.[9] She was also worked with the Red Cross Society in Mayyazhi.[9]
Mahathma Gandhi had reached Mayazhi as part of his countrywide tour of the freedom struggle and to receive donations for his Harijan Welfare Fund. At that time, M. K. Menon, a staunch supporter of the Indian National Congress in Mayazhi, requested Revathi Amma to arrange a reception for Gandhiji and to persuade women to donate their jewellery to him.[3] An active supporter of Indian freedom movement, she donated her daughter's chain and a pair of her own bangles to Gandhiji's Harijan Welfare Fund.[3]
During the Thalassery riots, there was a rumor that the Thalassery Saidar Mosque would be attacked. Hearing this, at the Sahasra Poornima launch ceremony, being a Hindu, Revathi Amma sat in front of the mosque and said that the mosque could only be touched by stepping on her dead body.[4] Even though she was well accepted as a social activist, her relatives were against that, and they even mockingly called her 'stray goat of the bazar'.[2]
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Works
Revathi Amma's first published novel was Randu Sahodarimaar [Two Sisters]. Her husband, who was a police commissioner, was initially not interested in writing or publishing this novel.[3] She has also wrote many short stories and another novel titled Shobhana.[6] Her autobiography Sahasra Poornima [completing thousands full moons] was published in 1977.[5]
Awards and honors
In 1980, she won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for her autobiography Sahasra Poornima.[4]
References
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