Balamani Amma, Grandmother Of Malayalam Poetry, Celebrated By Google On Her 113th Birth Anniversary

On July 19, Google Doodle is celebrating the 113th birthday of Balamani Amma, who otherwise is known as the grandmother of Malayalam poetry. The Indian poet is famous for her works in the language.

Who Is Balamani Amma

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Born in July 1909, Balamani Amma’s ancestral home was in Malabar District, a part of British India. Without receiving any formal education, she became a poet. Her only tutor was her maternal uncle who had a huge collection of books.

Vallathol Narayana Menon, a Malayalam poet, and Nalapat Narayana Menon, an author in the Malayalam language, were Amma’s inspirations. She even wrote an elegy for Narayana Menon called Lokantharangalil. She was only 19 when she married V.M. Nair, who later succeeded and became the managing director and managing editor of Mathrubhumi, a Malayalam newspaper that also landed a hand in India’s struggle against the Britishers.

Amma’s son Kamala Surayya translated one of his mother’s poems ‘The Pen’. It was about the loneliness (how not to feel lonely) that surrounded Balamani Amma. She also had a daughter, Sulochana, and a son, Shyam Sunder. Amma died of Alzheimer's in 2004.

Her Work

Balamani Amma’s several translations, about 20 anthologies and prose works have been published. She received her first recognition from the former ruler of the Kingdom of Cochin. She received the Sahithya Nuipuna Puraskaram.

Her collection of poems included Sopanam (1958), Kudumbini (1936), Nagarathil (1968), Velichathil (1951), Kudumbini (1936), Pranamam (1954), etc. Her famous piece of work was Mazhuvinte Katha (The Story of the Axe) and Sandhya (1982).

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Awards

Image Courtesy: Kerala Celebrity

She earned the titles of Amma (Mother) and Muthassi (grandmother) for her poems (poems to share with soulmate) in the Malayalam language. Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri gave a remembrance speech in honour of Balamani Amma. He described her as the ‘prophet of human glory’ because her poems were his inspiration.

Critic and writer M. N. Karassery called her a Gandhian. Amma’s literary awards and honours included Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award for Muthassi (1963). She won Vallathol Award (1993), Asan Prize (1989), Saraswati Samman for Nivedyam (1995), N. V. Krishna Writer Award (1997) and Lalithambika Antharjanam Award (1993).

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Balamani Amma was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1987. Looking back at her legendary work, the Kochi International Book Festival Committee had also created the Balamani Amma Award, which comes with a cash prize for writers.