THRISSUR: Devaki Nambeesan, one of the key figures in the 1950s movement against barring Nair women from participating in a temple ritual wearing blouses, died here on Sunday.
Devaki died of age-related ailments. She was 89.
Devaki, worked among Dalit women in Velur and other parts of the Thrissur district to fight for the right to cover their breasts.
The 1956 agitation, later known as 'Velur maaru marakkal samaram (Velur breast-covering protest), was a movement against a custom that prevented Nair women from covering their breasts while taking part in certain rituals during the annual temple festival at Manimalarkavu Temple near Velur.
At the time, while Nair women were allowed to participate in the temple rituals topless, Dalit women were not even allowed to take part in the ceremony.
Devaki and other leaders persuaded Dalit women to take part in the ritual wearing blouses while the Nair women attended the ceremony without covering their breasts.
Though Devaki couldn't participate in the festival in 1956, she was one of the leaders who played a key role in uniting the women who participated in the temple ritual covering their breasts to defy the existing system.
The movement was successful as temple authorities thereafter allowed Dalit women to perform the rituals, besides putting an end to the practice of women being barred from wearing blouses during the rituals.
Devaki is the wife of Communist leader and former MLA, the late A. SN Nambeesan.