Updated: December 23, 2020 11:52:55 am
Sugathakumari was an influential voice in the field of Malayalam literature with his works garnering all of the top accolades offered in the country. (Source: Wikimedia commons)
Acclaimed Malayalam poet and environmental activist Sugathakumari passed away on Wednesday following complications from Covid-19 at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. She was 86 years old.
Over the past week, the Padma Shri winner had been hospitalized with severe pneumonia after testing positive for Covid-19. He was on ventilation after his body stopped responding to the medication. Doctors said he suffered from bronchopneumonia, a condition that causes inflammation in the air sacs in the lungs.
Sugathakumari was an influential voice in the field of Malayalam literature with his works garnering all of the top accolades offered in the country. He received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Prize, the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Prize, the Odakkuzhal Prize, the Ezhuthachan Prize, among others.
For her contribution to nature conservation, the Center awarded her the first Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra. Earned the honor of Padmashri in 2006
The poet was born on January 22, 1934, to the freedom fighter Bodheswaran, whose real name was Keshava Pillai, and the Sanskrit scholar VK Karthyayini Amma. The literary critic and writer Dr. K Velayudhan Nair, who died in 2003, was her husband. They have a daughter.
He completed his education at the University of Kerala and Thiruvananthapuram University College, obtaining a postgraduate degree in philosophy in 1955.
Inspired by her father, who was a Gandhian thinker, Sugathakumari made her entrance into social activism and was at the forefront of the Save Silent Valley upheaval that had attracted national attention in the 1990s. relationship with nature.
She was the founding secretary of Prakriti Samrakshana Samiti and ‘Abhaya’, a home for destitute women in Kerala.
He published his first poem in 1957. Some of his notable works were ‘Rathrimazha’, ‘Ambalamani’, Paavam Manavahridayam, Swapnabhoomi and ‘Pathirapookal’.
He won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1968 for ‘Pathirapookal’, the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for ‘Rathrimazha’, the Odakuzhal Award in 1982 and the Vayalar Award in 1984 for his work ‘Ambalamani’. He won the Saraswati Samman for his work ‘Manalezhuthu’ in 2012. He won the prestigious Ezhuthachan Award in 2009 for his contributions to Malayalam literature.
Other notable honors that came to Sugathakumari were Ashan puraskaram, Vallathol award, P Kunhiraman Nair award, Balamaniamma award, Lalithambika Antharjana award, and Kerala Sahitya Akademi scholarship.
For her contribution to nature conservation, the Center awarded her the first Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra. She was awarded the Padmashri honor in 2006. She served as the chair of the Kerala State Women’s Commission.
His poetry resonated with environmental issues and spoke volumes of his disdain for human interference with nature.
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