ebook img

The Other Half of the Coconut: Women Writing Self-Respect History PDF

186 Pages·2003·1.5 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview The Other Half of the Coconut: Women Writing Self-Respect History

The Other Half of the Coconut: Women Writing Self-Respect History An Anthology of Self-Respect Literature (1928-1936) Edited, Introduced and Translated from the Tamil by K. SRILATA ZUBAAN 128-B Shahpur Jat First Floor New Delhi 110049 Email: [email protected] Website: www.zubaanbooks.com First published by Kali for Women, 2003 Ebook published by Zubaan Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 2020 Copyright © This translation K. Srilata, 2003 All rights reserved Print ISBN 978 81 86706 50 3 eBook ISBN 97 893 90514 22 9 Zubaan is an independent feminist publishing house based in New Delhi, India with a strong academic and general list. It was set up as an imprint of the well known feminist house Kali for Women, and carries forward Kali’s tradition of publishing world quality books to high editorial and production standards. ‘Zubaan’ means tongue, voice, language, speech in Hindustani. Zubaan is a non-profit publisher, working in the areas of the humanities and social sciences, as well as in fiction, general non-fiction, and books for young adults that celebrate difference, diversity and equality for and about the children of India and South Asia under its imprint Young Zubaan. Ebook conversion by Digiultrabooks Pvt. Ltd Contents Acknowledgements Preface SECTION I Stories, Treatises and Essays by Women Self-Respecters Introduction: Getting Past the Legacy of Periyar: Women and Agency in the Self-Respect Movement The Self-Respect Journal: A Note What is In Store For Us? (Enngall Gathi Yenna?) KAMALAKSHI Womenfolk and Self-Respect Principles (Penn Makkallum Suyamariathai Kollgaigallum) TRICHI NEELAVATHI Pankajam’s Tragic Death (Pankajatin Paridaba Maranam) ANONYMOUS Rituals (Sadangugal) NEELAVATHI RAMASUBRAMANIAM Which Grew Bigger—the Ring or the Body? (Vallarnthathu Modirama Udamba?) JANAKI The Women’s Movement (Penngall lyakkam) MU. MARAGATHAVALLIYAR Vignettes (Kadambam) NEELAVATHI RAMASUBRAMANIAM The Skies Won’t Bring Forth Rain (Mazhai Peyyathu) JANAKI The Sufferings of the Adi-dravidas (Adidravidarin Thuyaram) MU. MARAGATHAVALLIYAR Half a Coconut (Thengai Moodi) JANAKI Is Widowhood a Question of Fate? (Vidhavaigall Aavadu Thalaividiyal) TRICHI NEELAVATHI The Ritual of Garuda Sevai (Garuda Sevai Sadangu) MISS AND MRS KAMALAKSHI The Progress of Women (Penngall Munetram) MU. MARAGATHAVALLIYAR Why Was Woman Enslaved? Muslim Women are Slaves Too! The Plight of Muslim Widows (Penn Yenn Adimai Aanaalll Muslim Penngallum Adimaigalle Daan! Muslim Vidhavaigallin Nilamai) ALHAJ SUBAKO Is the Bliss of Freedom Not For Us? (Inba Suthanthiram Yengallakku llaiyaa?) NEELAVATHI RAMASUBRAMANIAM A Bundle of Grass (Pullu Kattu) JANAKI Will Educated Women Take the Initiative? (Padittha Penngall Munvaruvargalla?) TRICHI NEELAVATHI Women in the Socialist World (Samadharma Ulagil Penngall) JAYASEKARI SECTION II The Self-Respect Novel The Dasis’ Wicked Snares Or The Playboy Who Came To His Senses (Dasigal Mosavalai Alladu Madipettra Myner) MOOVALUR A. RAMAMRITHAMMAL Lobbying For Devadasi Abolition: From Artiste to Prostitute Excerpts from The Dasis’ Wicked Snares or the Playboy Who Came to His Senses (Dasigal Mosavalai Alladu Madipettra Myner) MOOVALUR A. RAMAMRITHAMMAL Conclusion APPENDICES Essays, Speeches and Letters by Periyar E.V. Ramasami Naicker An Introduction The Law Prohibiting Pottukattu (Pottukattu Nirutthum Shattam) PERIYAR E.V. RAMASAMI NAICKER No More Thali-Tying (Thali Kattudal Ennum Sadangu Ozhindadu) PERIYAR E.V. RAMASAMI NAICKER Self-Respect Marriages and Marriages Devoid of Self-Respect (Suyamariathai—Suyamariathaiattra Thirumanangal) PERIYAR E.V. RAMASAMI NAICKER Biographical Notes Bibliography Acknowledgements I thank the Professor V.S. Sethuraman Centre for Culture Studies at Mozhi: Resource Trust for Language and Culture, Chennai for a book grant that gave me the confidence to take on a project of this kind with its lengthy gestation period, its uncertainties and attendant frustrations. The Mozhi Trust and the Sethuraman Centre helped me in several ways. Firstly, they gave me much needed institutional support which I would have lacked otherwise as an independent researcher. Secondly, they ensured that I received feedback from experts in the field of translation studies. Thirdly, they took off my hands the difficult task of finding a suitable publisher. For all these reasons, I am grateful to Mozhi and to the Professor V.S. Sethuraman Centre for Culture Studies. I wish to thank Professor C.T. Indra, Head, Dept. of English, University of Madras for her support, encouragement and feedback. To Mr S. Theodore Baskaran of Mozhi, I owe a huge debt of gratitude. He has been an excellent and wise friend. Dr Tejaswini Niranjana of the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore belongs to that category of friends and mentors whom it is impossible to thank adequately. This is but an inadequate attempt at recording my gratitude. She was among the first to urge me to take up this project. Her extensive comments on an early version of this book were extremely useful. Preeti Gill, Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon of Kali for Women, New Delhi were both professional as well as prompt in their response and feedback to various drafts of this manuscript. I thank them for the enthusiasm with which they entered into the project of publishing this work as well as for their suggestions and advice. A recent grant from the Sunya Foundation, Ahmedabad has allowed me to work on a related project that has also enriched this current one. I thank the foundation for extending its support. Vatsala, my mother, helped out extensively with the translation. She made Dasigal Mosavalai come alive for me. Her insights on the particular historical period in which some of the pieces in this book have been set, were very valuable and have influenced the translation in no small measure. Writing this book would have been a far lonelier process but for the support I received from my collegues Roselin, Krupanidhi and Sujata at Malarchi, a women’s resource centre in Chennai where I was working at the time. Roselin was a willing and wonderful research assistant, and a great friend. Discussions with V. Geetha over my work have been unfailingly productive. I owe her many thanks for her refreshing perspectives on the Self-Respect movement as well as for her extensive and incisive scholarship. Dr Gita Krishnankutty was among the first to read and comment on my work. I thank her for her extensive comments on the first (and in retrospect, almost unreadable!) draft of my work and for her support and warmth. Anita Cherian and Rekha Pappu took time off to read earlier drafts of this work. Their friendship has kept me going through difficult times. I thank P. Radhika for giving so generously of her time and commenting on my work in its early stages. Mr Ramakrishnan of Cre-A, Mr P.R. Subramaniam of Mozhi and Mini Krishnan of the Oxford University Press have helped me in various ways. I thank them for their encouragement and kindness. I thank Subashree Krishnaswamy for her friendship and her insights into the professional side of publishing. Srividya Natarajan lent me her thesis on Bharatanatyam. In some ways, the insights in her work have changed the structure of this book Mr C.K. Sundararajan, the librarian at the Perasriyar Research Library at the Anna Arivalayam, Chennai for the enthusiasm with which he sourced out books and other material relevant to this project. He made the library a happy place for me. The librarian and staff of the Roja Muthiah Research Library for an excellent work environment. The librarian and staff at the Periyar Thidal library for their support. By choosing to be born in 1999, a year when I foolishly hoped to tie up this project, my son Aniruddha threw both my life as well as this book into a state of general confusion! But for the unstinting support of my husband, Mani, and my mother, Vatsala, this book would not have seen completion. They have helped out in so many ways that to simply thank them seems completely out of place. So I will let that be. My parents-in-law Smt. Sobha Balaramamoorthy and Shri K. Balaramamoorthy for their affection and support. Jyoti for taking care of Aniruddha, leaving me a sacred two hour slot free each day to do this work. My friends Anuradha Shyam, Hema, Murthy, Meena, Madhavan, Sonati, Sundar, Kakoli, Rana, Usha and Shiva for the bonhomie and good times.

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.