Arya Premji Biography 
Arya Premji was a social activist best known as the second Brahmin widow from Kerala who remarried. She married noted social activist and National award winning film actor, Premji, who was 40 years old then. She belonged to Namboodiri Brahmin community and was an active communist. She created history through her remarriage at a time when it was regarded taboo to the higher classes of Kerala society. She was only 15 years old when her first husband passed away and she remarried at the age of 27. Arya was ostracized from her community following her marriage. She passed away on 23rd May, 2016 aged 99.
She was born in the year 1917 into a traditional Namboodiri family. She got married at a young age of only 14 and her husband passed away one year later. She had been forced to marry a 40-year-old widower. Later she got associated with Communist party and worked as a social activist who fought against the social evils of society such as caste discrimination, and she also worked for woman empowerment. She got associated with MP Bhattathirippad (Premji) while she was associated with communist movement and she accepted him as her husband at the age of 27. Premji was 40 years old. Among the social leaders who attended the wedding include – E. M. S. Namboodiripad and V. T. Bhattathiripad. Both belonging to higher social status were ostracized from the community for attending the historic event.
After Indian independence, she became fully active in politics and served as representative of communist party in Thrissur Municipality and served as a counselor for a term of 5 years since 1964. Her brother-in-law M. R. Bhattathiripad was a well-known social activist and theatre artist. Premji-Arya couple had 5 children – 4 sons and one daughter. Their son Neelan is a leading journalist while late son K. P. A. C Premachandran was an actor. In 2015 Neelan made a nationalaward winning documentary about his mother titled Amma. An icon of struggle for Namboodiri widows’ rights she passed away in May 2016 aged 99 at Ambalamukk, Thiruvananthapuram. She was the last of the witnesses to dramatic times in Kerala’s social history.
Published: N/A
Updated: May 29, 2016
