Faces of revolution:Portraits of women communist leaders at the exhibition organised at the 24th Congress of the CPI(M).
| Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
Among the women Communist leaders featured in the exhibition to mark the 24th Congress of the CPI(M) in Madurai are Manalur Maniammal and Pa. Visalam, who continue to live in the pages of two novels. While Pathaiyil Pathintha Adikal, a biographical novel by Sahitya Akademi winner Rajam Krishnan, captures the life and struggles of Maniammal, Mella Kanavai Pazhakathaiyai is an autobiographical novel by Pa. Visalam. Both the works, however, are not uncritical of the Communist movement.
“When I went to East Thanjavur to study the lives of the agriculture labourers and farmers in 1979, 1980 and 1981, I heard about the rare woman Manalur Maniammal, who died in 1959. My admiration knew no bounds when I was told that she was worshipped as a God in every hut and stories of her struggles and her adventures,” writes Rajam Krishnan in her preface to the novel.
After losing her husband at 27, Maniammal joined the Communist party and led the peasants from the forefront, says Rajam Krishnan.
Narrating about an incident in the life of Maniammal, Rajam Krishnan says, “The first thing Mani spotted inside the house was a sickle. She lifted it and ran after him (Pattamaniam Kariakaran, who beat Kanju). With a fiery face and a sickle in her hand, she resembled the local deity incarnated…”
Visalam was the first woman Communist from Kanniyakumari, which was part of the Travancore regime.
The heroine marries a fellow comrade, a true-life story of Visalam, who married Raju, another Communist. Visalam remained with the CPI and never joined the CPI(M).
Published – April 05, 2025 08:20 am IST
