TUMAKURU: Sulagitti Narasamma, a traditional midwife who assisted thousands of women in safe deliveries in Pavagada taluk, died in Bengaluru on Tuesday. She was 98. She was admitted to BGS Gleneagles Global Hospitals in Kengeri with a lung disease. The Padma Shri recipient had won recognition for her selfless work that spanned over five decades, ensuring safe and healthy natural childbirth. Narasamma was born in the Dalit Madiga community in Andhra Pradesh. At 12, she got married to Anjinappa of Krishnapura in Karnataka. They had 12 children.
“I learnt midwifery from my grandmother who helped me deliver five of my babies,” she had earlier told TNIE. Narasamma, who was illiterate, first learnt the practice at the age of 20 when she helped an aunt during childbirth.
She was the go-to person for pregnant women, including those belonging to the nomadic tribes. Narasamma prepared herbal medicines for expectant mothers, and acquired the expertise of checking the foetus’ pulse, size and head position.Narasamma, who got an honorary doctorate from Tumkur University in 2014, served people free of cost.
Narasamma’s son, Pavagada Sriram, told TNIE that the district administration will take a call on her final rites. “The administration will decide about the burial place to make it a memorial,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar K said that her mortal remains will be kept for the public to pay their last respects to at the Glass House on the premises of Amanikere tank on December 26.
Narasamma was declared dead by doctors at BGS Gleneagles Global Hospitals in Kengeri, where she was on ventilator for the last five days, at 3pm on December 25. She was admitted to Siddaganga Hospital and Research Centre at Tumakuru last month, and referred to BGS Hospitals on November 29. She is survived by four sons, including activist Pavagada Sriram, three daughters and 36 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa were among the dignitaries who visited the hospital and mourned the death of Narasamma, who was felicitated with the country’s fourth highest civilian award by President Ram Nath Kovind earlier this year. A wheelchair-bound Narasamma received the award at Rashtrapati Bhavan on March 20, 2018. She was also awarded the D Devaraj Urs and Kitturu Rani Chennamma awards by the Karnataka government, and the Vayoshresta Samman from the central government.
The traditional midwife was born in 1920 in a Telugu-speaking family at Madakashira in Ananthapura district of Andhra Pradesh. She was the second daughter of a couple who worked as farm labourers, and from an early age, she had to take care of her younger siblings when her parents were away at work. She moved to Krishnapura, a remote village on Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border, after marriage.
She shot to fame when she visited a private hospital where her daughter-in-law, the wife of her youngest son Sriram, was admitted for delivery of their baby through a Caesarian section in 2007. She was scolding her son for admitting her, which caught the attention of writers Annapoorna Venkatananjappa and Ba Ha Ramakumari, district Kannada Sahithya Parishath president, who recorded her story. The
duo nominated her for a district-level women’s achiever award.
Food for thought
Secret of Narasamma’s long life was peanuts, a predominant crop in the region, and millets roti with chakana — a meat delicacy