Sugathakumari (22 January 1934 – 23 December 2020) was an Indian poet and activist from Kerala. One of the most loved poets in Malayalam, she wrote with tenderness about love, loss, nature and the suffering of women. She was also a leader of Kerala’s environmental movement, especially the campaign that saved the Silent Valley rainforest, and the founder of Abhaya, an organisation that shelters women in distress and people with mental illness. She received the Padma Shri in 2006.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Sugathakumari |
| Born | 22 January 1934, Aranmula, Travancore (now Kerala), India |
| Died | 23 December 2020, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (aged 86) |
| Occupation | Poet, environmental and social activist |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Parents | Bodheswaran, V. K. Karthiyayini Amma |
| Spouse | K. Velayudhan Nair |
| Children | 1 (Lakshmi) |
| Honours | Padma Shri (2006), Saraswati Samman (2012) |
Early Life
Sugathakumari was born in Aranmula into a family of scholars. Her father, Bodheswaran, was a poet and freedom fighter, and her mother, Karthiyayini Amma, was a Sanskrit professor. She took a master’s degree in philosophy from University College, Thiruvananthapuram. Her sisters Hridayakumari and Sujatha Devi were also writers.
Poetry
Her first poems appeared in the 1950s under a pen name. Her early collections, Muthuchippi (1961) and Pathirappookkal (“Midnight Flowers”, 1967), established her voice, and Pathirappookkal won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. Rathrimazha (“Night Rain”, 1977), whose title poem speaks to the rain as a companion in sorrow, won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978. Later books include Ambalamani (“Temple Bell”, 1981), which won the Vayalar and Odakkuzhal awards, and Manalezhuthu (“Writing on Sand”, 2006), for which she received the Saraswati Samman. Many of her poems address Krishna, and many mourn the destruction of forests and rivers.
Activism
In the late 1970s the Kerala government planned a hydroelectric dam that would have drowned Silent Valley, an untouched rainforest in Palakkad district. Sugathakumari became the best-known voice of the Save Silent Valley movement; her poem “Marathinu Stuthi” (“Hymn to a Tree”) was sung at protest meetings. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi intervened, the project was dropped, and Silent Valley became a national park in 1984. She was the founding secretary of the Prakriti Samrakshana Samithi, a nature protection society.
After visiting the state mental hospital in Thiruvananthapuram in 1985 and seeing how patients were kept, she founded Abhaya (“refuge”). It grew to run homes for destitute women, mentally ill patients, alcohol and drug addicts and abandoned children. She was the first chairperson of the Kerala State Women’s Commission, from 1996 to 2001.
Death
Sugathakumari died of complications from COVID-19 at the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on 23 December 2020, aged 86.
Awards and Honours
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Sugathakumari born?
Sugathakumari was born on 22 January 1934 in Aranmula, Travancore (now Kerala), India.
When did Sugathakumari die?
Died: 23 December 2020, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (aged 86).
What is Sugathakumari’s occupation?
Occupation: Poet, environmental and social activist.
What honours has Sugathakumari received?
Padma Shri (2006), Saraswati Samman (2012).
Featured image: Sugathakumari speaks at a meeting in Kerala, September 2013. Photo by Navaneeth Krishnan S, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
