Sugathakumari

Sugathakumari Biography

Sugathakumari is a Malayalam poetess and social activist. She is widely known as for her forefront movements in environmental and feminist activists in Kerala. Among all her works, Rathri Mazha (Night rain) is her most popular work. It’s a collection of poems. Ambalamani and Pathirappookal are other noted works. She played a big role in the Save Silent Valley protest and a well established writer of Malayalam at present. She was the former chairperson of the Kerala State Women's Commission. She is the founder secretary of the Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi, an organization for the protection of nature.  She is also one among the founders of - Abhaya, a home for destitute women and a day-care centre for the mentally ill.

Sugathakumari was born at Aranmula in January 1934 as the daughter of a Gandhian and freedom fighter, Bhodheswaran. Her mother, Prof. V. K. Karthiyayini was a well known scholar and teacher of Sanskrit. Sugathakumari's husband Dr. K. Velayudhan Nair was an educationist and writer. Her elder sister Hridayakumari is also a very famous writer of Malayalam who has received Kerala Sahitya Academy Award.

Sugathakumari completed her college studies from University College, Thiruvananthapuram. She took a Master's Degree in Philosophy in 1955. Sugathakumari's very first poem was published in 1957 under a pseudonym in a weekly journal, but it drew attention from readers. Pathirappookal (Flowers of Midnight) won her Kerala Sahitya Academy Awards in the year 1968. She won Kendra Sahitya Academy Awards for her most popular collection of poems ‘Rathri mazha’ in the year 1978. Her other collections include Paavam Manavahridayam, Muthuchippi, Irulchirakukal and Swapnabhoomi.

Her early works were filled with romance and quest of love while her latest works were filled with increasingly feminist responses to social disorder and injustice. She took pen to fight against Environmental issues and other contemporary problems. She is regarded as the most sensitive and most philosophical of contemporary Malayalam poets. Her other works include – Kurinjippookkal, Paavam Maanavahridayam, Thulaavarshappacha, Radhayevide, Devadasi and Manalezhuthu.  

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Updated: September 12, 2013