Dakshayani Velayudhan

Dakshayani Velayudhan Biography

Dakshayani Velayudhan was the first Dalit woman graduate in India. She was one among the earliest educated females from south India. A powerful tribal leader from south, she has served as a parliamentarian in India’s first parliament and also a leader of dalits. She belonged to Pulaya community from Kerala, and was the first woman from her community to wear an upper cloth. She is the only dalit woman member of the Constituent Assembly of India. She was the younger sister of K. P. Vallon, a social reformer and leader of the Pulaya community who played a significant role in the uplift of Pulaya Community. She is a relative of K R Narayanan, former president of India.

She was born in Mulavukad village of Ernakulam district into a lower class Pulaya community. She created history by completing graduation in science in 1935 and later took a teacher’s training course at Chennai. She received education scholarships from Kochi state, which helped her to complete her studies. Till 1945, she worked as school teacher at Trichur and Tripunithura. She married R. Velayudhan a dalit leader, who later served as a member of parliament. Their wedding was held at Sevagram in Wardha, with witnesses being Mahatma Gandhi and his wife. Dakshayani’s daughter Meera Velayudhan is a scholar who currently works as a policy analyst with the Centre for Environment & Social Concerns in Ahmedabad. The couple had four other children.

She was nominated to the Cochin Legislative Council by the state government in 1945 and was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India by the Council in 1946. Since then actively associated with state and centre politics, she served as a parliamentarian too. During her tenure as parliamentarian, she raised many issues of dalit communities in the parliament. She unsuccessfully contested in Adoor Lok Sabha constituency in 1971.

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Updated: November 26, 2019