Sharada, the second Malayalam women's magazines to be published in Kerala, [1] was started in November 1904 from Thripunithura, Kochi. [2] Sharada was edited by B. Kalyani Amma, T.C. Kalyani Amma and T. Ammukutty Amma. [3] It was the first women's magazine to be edited by women in Kerala. [4] K. Narayana Menon was the owner of the magazine and it was printed at Bharathi Vilasam Press.
The printing of Sharada came to a stop in three years. It was restarted in the next year from Thiruvananthapuram. Sharada was in print till 1908 under the patronage of K. Ramakrishna Pillai. [5]
After a break, the magazine was restarted in 1913 under the editorship of Kalyani Amma and other women writers and social activists. This time it went on till 1925. This magazine was published by T.K. Kalyanikutty Amma from Punalur. [5] It was different from the original Sharada. Sharada was quite popular for its time with a publication figure of 750 in the 1920s. [6] [7]
Sharada carried articles on social issues and other topics. It was started with the aim to educate and bring about the development of Malayali women. [8]
K. R. Gouri, born Kalathilparambil Raman Gouri, commonly known as Gouri Amma, was an Indian politician from Alappuzha in central Kerala. She was one of the most prominent leaders of the Left movement in India.
Akathoot Balakrishna Pillai (1889–1960), better known as Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, was a Malayalam writer, art and literary critic and journalist, considered by many as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Kerala. He was the eponymous founder of the newspaper, Kesari and was one of the three major figures in modern Malayalam literary criticism, along with Joseph Mundassery and M. P. Paul. Besides works such as Kesariyude Lokangal, Navalokam, Sankethika Nirupanangal Sahitya Nirupanangal, Rupamanjari, he also wrote a text in English under the title, Outlines of the Proto-Historic Chronology of Western Asia.
Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon was an Indian poet of Malayalam literature. Known for his works such as Kudiyozhikkal, Kannikkoythu and Mambazham, Menon was the founder president of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham, an organisation of Kerala-based artists, writers and art and literature enthusiasts. He was a recipient of several honours including Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry, Vayalar Award and Odakkuzhal Award.
Kanakku Chembakaraman Kesava Pillai (1868–1914) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a poet of Malayalam literature. He was the Poet Laureate of Travancore and was known for Kesaveeyam, a mahakavya in Malayalam, two attakathas and several bhajans and kirtans. He also translated the Sanskrit text, Narayaniyam, into Malayalam under the title, Bhashanarayaniyam.
Indulekha is a Malayalam novel written by O. Chandu Menon. Published in 1889, it was the first major novel in the Malayalam language. It was a landmark in the history of Malayalam literature and initiated the novel as a new flourishing genre. The novel is about a beautiful, well-educated lady of a Nair tharavad.
Cannankara Velayudhan Raman Pillai, also known as C. V., was one of the major Indian novelists and playwrights and a pioneering playwright and novelist of Malayalam literature. He was known for his historical novels such as Marthandavarma, Dharmaraja and Ramaraja Bahadur; the last mentioned considered by many as one of the greatest novels written in Malayalam.
K. Ramakrishna Pillai (1878–1916) was an Indian nationalist writer, journalist, editor, and political activist. He edited Swadeshabhimani, the newspaper which became a potent weapon against the rule of the British and the erstwhile princely state of Travancore and a tool for social transformation. His criticism of the Diwan of Travancore, P. Rajagopalachari and the Maharajah led to the eventual confiscation of the newspaper. Ramakrishna Pillai was arrested and exiled from Travancore in 1910. Vrithantha Pathra Pravarthanam (1912) and Karl Marx (1912) are among his most noted works in Malayalam, Vrithantha Pathra pravarthanam being the first book on journalism in Malayalam and Karl Marx, the first ever biography of Karl Marx in any Indian language. But it has been alleged that he plagiarized the biography from an essay, "Karl Marx: A Modern Rishi", by Lala Hardayal, published in 1912 March issue of the Modern Review, published from Kolkata.
Swadeshabhimani was a newspaper published in the Kingdom of Travancore, which was banned and confiscated by the Government of Travancore in 1910 due to its criticisms against the government and the Diwan of Travancore, P. Rajagopalachari.
Kudiyirikkal Narayanan Ezhuthachan was an Indian writer and scholar of Malayalam literature. He was one among the principal followers of the idea of social impact on literature. Ezhuthachan supported Marxist literary criticism and interpreted Indian literary works based on Marxist aesthetics. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his work Keralodayam, a long narrative poem written in Sanskrit. He is the first Malayali to win Sahitya Akademi Award in Sanskrit. He died on 28 October 1981 while delivering a lecture at Calicut University.
Bodheswaran, , was an Indian independence activist, social reformer and a poet of Malayalam literature. He was known for his nationalistic poems such as Keralaganam and for his involvement in social movements like Vaikom Satyagraha and other related events which led to the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936.
Alappat Sreedhara Menon, known as A. Sreedhara Menon, was an Indian historian from Kerala. He is best known as the State Editor (1958–68) of Kerala District Gazetteers (1961–1975). He served as registrar of the Kerala University from 1968 to 1977, before retiring in 1980.
Mancherath Thazhathethil Govindan (1919–1989) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature and a cultural activist from Kerala, India. He was known for his writings as well as for his efforts in assisting Anand to publish his debut novel, Aalkkottam, and in the production of Swayamvaram, the debut movie of Dadasaheb Phalke laureate, Adoor Gopalakrishnan. His body of work comprises short stories, poems, articles and plays. He also wrote the screenplay for Nokkukuthi, a 1983 film by Mankada Ravi Varma.
K. S. Narayanaswamy, was a Carnatic veena exponent of the Thanjavur style, in which nuances and subtleties are given more importance over rhythm based acrobatics. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1979.
Jayakumari Devika is a Malayali historian, feminist, social critic and academic from Kerala. She currently researches and teaches at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram as a professor. She has authored several books and articles on gender relations in early Kerala society. She is bilingual and has translated both fiction and non-fiction books between Malayalam and English. She also writes on gender, politics, social reforms and development in Kerala on publications like Kafila, Economic and Political Weekly and The Wire.
Mary Poonen Lukose was an Indian gynecologist, obstetrician and the first female Surgeon General in India. She was the founder of a Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Nagarcoil and the X-Ray and Radium Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, served as the head of the Health Department in the Princely State of Travancore and was the first woman legislator of the state. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri in 1975.
Kurissery Gopala Pillai was an orientalist, researcher, lexicographer, poet, essayist, grammarian and scholar of Malayalam and Sanskrit languages. He specialised in Comparative study of languages.
Notable works
B. Kalyani Amma was a writer, editor, teacher and social reformer from Kerala. Kalyani Amma's most notable work is Vyazhavatta Smaranakal and Ormayil Ninnum (Reminiscences). She was one of the editors of two of the earliest magazines published for women in Kerala, Sharada and Malayalamasika. Kalyani Amma was the wife of Swadeshabhimani K. Ramakrishna Pillai, a political writer, journalist and editor.
Prof. Panmana Ramachandran Nair was a Malayalam language writer, translator, linguist and academic from Kerala, India. He has received Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions in the field of Malayalam literature. His autobiography Smrithi Rekhakal was published in 2010.
K. Chinnamma was a feminist, social worker and woman activist from Kerala, India. In 1918, she started Raja Sreemoolam Thirunal Shashtyabda Poorthi Smaraka Hindu Mahila Mandiram, Kerala state's first home for destitute women. She founded the institution with the aim of educating, empowering and rehabilitating girls from less privileged backgrounds, irrespective of religion or caste.