The Soul That Knew How To Sing
The famous Indian writer Kamala Suraiyya (formerly known as Kamala Das), who is also known as Madhavikutty in the Malayalam literature, has passed away in Pune at the age of 75. Her body will be brought to Kerala tomorrow. Kamala Suraiyya wrote poems in English and is famous for her stories in Malayalam with the pen name Madhavikutty. She was nominated for the Nobel prize for literature in 1984.
For most of the Malayalees, Madhavikutty was a porn writer. Ask the common public, who couldn’t see the truly original soul that she was, about Madhavikutty and they would say, “I know, I know… she is the one who wrote “Ente Katha” (My Story – her autobiography), right?”. Ente Katha must be the most widely read autobiography in Kerala for it’s references to the experience of love and lust. Madhavikutty was true to herself in writing that book. Unlike most of the so-called social/cultural/literary icons, she did not try to glorify herself in her autobiography. She was honest and wrote what she experienced and felt. Madhavikutty was not a writer who wrote something pretentious in her works and lived off a personal life completely different. She did not hide her weaknesses along with her strengths in her book. With Ente Katha and by showing herself open through her writings, she poked at the Malayali community (or for that matter, the conservative Indian society) and laughed at their pseudo-morality. And her writings about love and lust brought her so much criticism from the people.
Madhavikutty made news when she changed her faith to Islam. There were people who opposed and supported her on this decision. I also felt bad. Since every religion has the presence of God, what is the need of changing religion, I thought. Along with the other people, I also thought that it was a publicity stunt. But on another thought, I felt that I was wrong. If I had truly believed that every religion has the presence of God, why should I have any problem with changing the religion? There I concluded that I haven’t yet understood the concept of universal love that Madhavikutty had believed and practiced in her life.
But later on she said that her conversion to Islam was because of a Muslim man who promised to marry her but decieved her later. This man was said to be a young and famous Islamic scholar from Kerala. People had their eye-brows raised. Both Hindu and Muslim extremists were enraged. “The old woman still has not lost her desire for lust“, many people said, as if they were living a perfectly divine life, lust-free. Madhavikutty was a person who had so much of love in her that she spread around. And when she spoke of love, it was not just the sexual union that she referred to. She was known for her referrence to Krishna in her pre-Muslim writings and this has given her kind of a Meera figure. Look at the old poems she wrote:
Krishna, I am melting,
Melting, melting
Nothing remains
But you
or
“If love is a flower, lust is its fragrance. Without love, where is lust and without lust, can life be created?” Kamala Suraiyya quotes Jayadeva’s Gita Govindam. “I think of Radha and Krishna when I think of love. Life is all about various dimensions of love.” [via]
But the pseudo-moralistic Malayali society could not accept Madhavikutty for what she was. When she was awarded the Ezhuthachan Award by Kerala government, recognizing her outstanding contributions to the language and the literary world, the fundamentalists threatened to hijack the award ceremony. Their argument was that “she who writes on love and lust” does not deserve such prestigious recognition! The most interesting part of Madhavikutty as a writer is that she was never a part of the “Feminist writers” or did not prefer to call herself as a Feminist. She did not need the label of Feminism in her writings. However, she spoke about the crimes against women, child prostitution etc.
When I heard the news of her departure today in the morning, I felt sad because she wouldn’t be there anymore to speak of love – that four letter word that people hold on to dearly but fears to admit publicly. May her soul rest in peace…
(Photo courtesy: IndianExpress.com)
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May 31st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Nice one Jo, a nice article with an apt title. The possessiveness and the moral code of the Malayali refused to accept that a writer can have a personal life and she does not have to please the hypocratic society always even in her privat life.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:05 pm
True. She will be missed. She may have made news with My Story, but here other stories and poems were beautiful too. When I heard the story this morning, I felt really sad. It just that feeling that people withm who we have grown up reading is one by one going behind the scenes. How I wish I was in Pune now.?
June 1st, 2009 at 1:43 am
So she is dead. It is sad, when you see certain figures that are edged in your mind, pass away. Though I have not read her works, I too, have memories of the publicity the media gave during her conversion time.
Pseudo-moralistic Malayali society: Just change that too South Asian:-)
But anyone, who goes against convention and sees something different, stands separate, is targetted by our society.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Jo,
nice post. so sad the way she left Kerala for good. what good it is to give honor after someone dies, if the same people didn’t give it when she was alive.
oh I forgot, that is just what we are. hypocrites
Thahseen
June 1st, 2009 at 11:18 pm
She was as colorful as her words..She was pure love in its all confusing vagaries
Will we ever have another one to be even near her literary and personal charisma?
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:19 am
Jo
Still remember reading her autobiography or something similar in a Tamil Weekly! that was back in the late 70s, when I was a teen!!
Tamil/Malayalam writer Jeya Mohan has written this remembrance in his Tamil Blog:
http://tinyurl.com/jmohan
If you aren’t able to d.load in India & are curious about what Mohan has said, let me know, ‘ll e-mail it.
[I used higopi.com - 's converter to convert Tamil to Malayalam. The 3rd ' i-n' or 'inth' - in Tamil wont change though (an obvious bug)] or Malayalam doesn’t ‘ve this consonant as in : pa in thu (ball) ??
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Vassan: The converter isn’t good, it seems.
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
jo…., i dono who r u?? but i wanna say somethin to u… in our language.. with all my feelings… 2 naalayi njanum valare disturbed aanu.. eniku valare priyapetta malayalathinte swantham madhavikutty… we r gonna miss her… as u said nishkalankamaya pranayathe kurichu ezhuthan ini madhavikutty illa.. i was really surprised to see this article… bcoz just 2 hrs before i’ve also written like this… in malayalam.. many things to say… not gettin words… its really good…
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Touching and honest….I have not read her autobio. Must. I like some of her poems. They are simple and sweet and maybe even exotic.
I was watching her last rites on TV. When she converted, I really thought she had lost it. However today I was thinking that her conversion and burial will bring about co operation between Muslims and Hindus. Kerala is a state where there is alot of communal harmony. Still I thought the whole thing was symbolic too.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
[...] Jo is ’sad because she wouldn’t be there anymore to speak of love’: For most of the Malayalees, Madhavikutty was a porn writer. Ask the common public, who couldn’t see the truly original soul that she was, about Madhavikutty and they would say, “I know, I know… she is the one who wrote “Ente Katha” (My Story – her autobiography), right?”. Ente Katha must be the most widely read autobiography in Kerala for it’s references to the experience of love and lust. Madhavikutty was true to herself in writing that book. Unlike most of the so-called social/cultural/literary icons, she did not try to glorify herself in her autobiography. She was honest and wrote what she experienced and felt. Madhavikutty was not a writer who wrote something pretentious in her works and lived off a personal life completely different. Linked by kuffir. Join Blogbharti facebook group. [...]
June 8th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Great one Jo. My first time here and I am glad I came. Das’ death is a loss for all times to come.
Cheers
June 10th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Well said…She is a legend….I have never heard such soothing voice among us who is so passionate about life and craving to be loved….We will miss her….i am proud of she being a malayalee….
June 21st, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Kamala Suraiyya was the best malayalam writer and singer and will always remain the best.