Lalithambika Antharjanam

Who was Lalithambika Antharjanam?

Lalithambika Antharjanam was an Indian author and social reformer best known for her literary works in Malayalam language. Her published oeuvre consists of nine volumes of short stories, six collections of poems, two books for children, and a novel, Agnisakshi which won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977. Her autobiography Aathmakadhakkoru Aamukham is a very significant work.

She was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and social reform movements among the Nambudiri caste led by V. T. Bhattathiripad. Later she contributed to the social reform in her own way. Her writing reflects a sensitivity to the women's role in society, and the tension between the woman as a centre for bonding and the woman as an individual. She was concerned particularly the nature of the sexual contract.