Kamala Surayya (born Kamala; 31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009), popularly known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty and married name Kamala Das, was an Indian poet in English as well as an author in Malayalam from Kerala, India. Her fame in Kerala primarily stems from her short stories and autobiography, My Story, whereas her body of work in English, penned under the pseudonym Kamala Das, is renowned for its poems and candid autobiography. She was also a widely read columnist and wrote on diverse topics including women's issues, child care, politics, etc. Her liberal treatment of female sexuality, marked her as an iconoclast in popular culture of her generation.[1] On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at Jehangir Hospital in Pune.[2]
She spent her childhood in Calcutta, where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company that sold Bentley and Rolls-Royce automobiles, and the Nalapat ancestral home in Punnayurkulam.[4]
Like her mother Balamani Amma, Kamala Das also excelled in writing. Her love of poetry began at an early age through the influence of her great uncle, Nalapat Narayana Menon, a prominent writer.[5]
At 15 years old, she wed bank officer Madhav Das Kalipurayath, who supported her literary pursuits. She commenced writing and publishing in both English and Malayalam. The 1960s in Calcutta witnessed an era of artistic turbulence, during which Kamala Das emerged as one of numerous voices featured in esteemed anthologies along with a generation of Indian English poets.[6] English was the language she chose for all six of her published poetry collections.[7]
Literary career
She was known for her several Malayalam short stories as well as poems written in English. Kamala Das was also a syndicated columnist. She once claimed that "poetry does not sell in this country [India]", but her forthright columns, which sounded off on everything from women's issues and child care to politics, were popular. Kamala Das was a confessional poet whose poems have often been considered at par with those of Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath.
Kamala Das' first book of poetry, Summer in Calcutta was a breath of fresh air in Indian English poetry. She wrote chiefly of love, betrayal, and the consequent anguish. Kamala Das abandoned the certainties offered by an archaic, and somewhat sterile, aestheticism for an independence of mind and body at a time when Indian poets were still governed by "19th-century diction, sentiment and romanticised love."[8]
Her second book of poetry, The Descendants was even more explicit, urging women to:
Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of
Long hair, the musk of sweat between the breasts,
The warm shock of menstrual blood, and all your
Endless female hungers ...
— Kamala Das, "The Looking Glass", The Descendants
This directness of her voice led to comparisons with Marguerite Duras and Sylvia Plath.[8] At the age of 42, she published a daring autobiography, My Story; it was originally written in Malayalam (titled Ente Katha) and later she translated it into English. Later she admitted that much of the autobiography had fictional elements.[9]
Some people told me that writing an autobiography like this, with absolute honesty, keeping nothing to oneself, is like doing a striptease. True, maybe. I, will, firstly, strip myself of clothes and ornaments. Then I intend to peel off this light brown skin and shatter my bones. At last, I hope you will be able to see my homeless, orphan, intensely beautiful soul, deep within the bone, deep down under, beneath even the marrow, in a fourth dimension ...
- excerpts from the translation of Kamala Das' autobiography in Malayalam, Ente Katha
"An Introduction" is very bold poem in which Das expresses her femininity, individuality, and true feelings about men.[10] This autobiographical poem is written in the colloquial style. She presents her feelings and thoughts in a bold manner. She realises her identity and understands that it is the need of every woman to raise a voice in this male-dominated society. The poet longs for love that is the result of her loneliness and frustration.
The poem "A Hot Noon in Malabar" is about climate, surrounding in a town in Malabar. The people may be annoyed by the heat, dust and noise but she likes it. She longs for the hot noon in Malabar because she associates it with the wild men, wild thoughts and wild love. It is a torture for her to be away from Malabar.
In "My Mother at Sixty-Six," Das explores the irony in a mother-daughter relationship, and it also includes the themes of aging, growing-up, separation and love.[11] "Dance of Eunuchs" is another fine poem in which Das sympathises with eunuchs. It has an autobiographical tone. The eunuchs dance in the heat of the sun. Their costumes, makeup and their passion with which they dance suggest the female delicacy. Their outward appearance and joy is contrasted with their inward sadness. Actually, there is no joy in their heart, they cannot even dream of happiness. In the poem "A Request," Das realises that her life is meaningless. She is alone and her colourless life is designed of crumbling patterns.
Kamala Das is essentially known for her bold and frank expression. The prominent features of her poetry are an acute obsession with love and the use of confession. The main theme of her poetry is based upon freedom, love and protection. She wrote on a diverse range of topics, often disparate - from the story of a poor old servant, about the sexual disposition of upper-middle-class women living near a metropolitan city or in the middle of the ghetto. Some of her better-known stories include Pakshiyude Manam, Neypayasam, Thanuppu, and Chandana Marangal. She wrote a few novels, out of which Neermathalam Pootha Kalam, which was received favourably by the general readers, as well as, the critics, stands out.
She has also held positions as Vice-chairperson in Kerala Sahitya Akademi, chairperson in Kerala Forestry Board, President of the Kerala Children's Film Society, editor of Poet magazine[12] and poetry editor of Illustrated Weekly of India.
Although occasionally seen as an attention-grabber in her early years,[13] she is now seen as one of the most formative influences on Indian English poetry. In 2009, The Times called her "the mother of modern English Indian poetry".[8]
Her last book titled The Kept Woman and Other Stories, featuring translation of her short stories, was published posthumously.[14] Kamala Das is best remembered for her controversial writings where she openly talks about the restriction imposed on women. She is known for her rebellious nature against the patriarchal conventions.[15]
Personal life
Kamala married Madhav Das Kalipurayath at the age of 15. The couple had three sons: M D Nalapat, Chinen Das and Jayasurya Das.[16] Her husband who predeceased her in 1992, after 43 years of marriage.[17]Madhav Das Nalapat, her eldest son, is married to Princess Thiruvathira Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi from the Travancore Royal House.[18] He holds the UNESCO Peace Chair and is a professor of geopolitics at the Manipal University. He had been a resident editor of The Times of India. Kamala Surayya converted to Islam in 1999 and fell victim to allegations for changing religion just for marrying someone she Loved, even though all boasted about her strive for freedom (especially women )and fearless nature and genius brain once, about which she sarcastically criticized in her later speeches, but she never remarried.[19][20]
On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune, after a long battle with pneumonia. Her body was flown to her home state of Kerala. She was interred at the Palayam Juma Masjid at Thiruvananthapuram with full state honour.[21][22]
Politics
Though never politically active before, she launched a national political party, Lok Seva Party, aiming at the promotion of secularism and providing asylum to orphaned mothers. In 1984 she unsuccessfully contested in the Indian Parliament elections from Trivandrum constituency.[23] She contested as an independent candidate and received only 1786 votes.[24] She was depressed after the results and was advised to rest at her sister's house in Anamalai hills. She wrote the Anamalai Poems during this period. She wrote over twenty poems in this series, but only eleven have been published: eight of them in Indian Literature journal by the Sahitya Akademi (1985) and an additional three of them in the book The Best of Kamala Das (1991).[25]
Conversion to Islam
She was born in a conservative Hindu Nair (Nalapat) family, and married to Aristrocratic Menon family (Kalipurayath) which is having royal ancestry.[26] She converted to Islam on 11 December 1999, at the age of 65 and assumed the name Kamala Surayya.[27][28]
Legacy
On 1 February 2018, Google Doodle by artist Manjit Thapp celebrates the work she left behind, which provides a window into the world of an engrossing woman.[29]
A biopic on her titled Aami directed by Kamal, released on 9 February 2018.
Awards and Other Recognitions
Kamala Das has received many awards for her literary contribution, including:
Manohar, D. Murali. Kamala Das: Treatment of Love in Her Poetry.indear Kumar Gulbarga: JIWE, 1999.
"Cheated and Exploited: Women in Kamala Das's Short Stories", In Mohan G Ramanan and P. Sailaja (eds.). English and the Indian Short Story. New Delhi: Orient Longman (2000).117–123
"Man-Woman Relationship with Respect to the Treatment of Love in Kamala Das' Poetry". Contemporary Literary Criticism Vol. 191. Ed. Tom Burns and Jeffrey W. Hunter. Detroit: Thomson-Gale, 2004. 44–60.
"Individuality in Kamala Das and in Her Poetry". English Poetry in India: A Secular Viewpoint. Eds. PCK Prem and D.C.Chambial. Jaipur: Aavishkar, 2011. 65–73.
