THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When it was serialised first in Mathrubhumi Weekly in 1976, Agnisakshi by Lalithambika Antharjanam, was remarked for the way it laid bare the lives of Namboothiri women bound by the shackles of tradition, religion and patriarchy.
Through the work, Antharjanam, a social reformer who was raised in a Namboothiri household, became the voice of women’s empowerment and their rights, besides inciting an early debate on gender politics.
First translated in 1976 by Vasanthi Sankaranarayanan, the book has been retranslated by her, albeit with a different perspective. Published by Oxford University Press, Agnisakshi-Fire, My Witness is priced at `350 and carries an interesting note by the translator and a study about its relevance in 21st century by scholar and critic J Devika.
However, an important aspect of the retranslation besides its social relevance today is the change in translator’s view of the work.
As much as she reveres and idolises the author and her masterpiece, Vasanthi Sankaranarayanan admits to the change in her own mental make-up towards the book.
She says delving deep into the sublime messages in the work prompted her to see Agnisakshi in a new light.
“It is beyond doubt that Antharjanam’s work is an extraordinary period novel. But, as a critic I feel her work couldn’t really overcome the barriers of patriarchy. Antharjanam could only idealise women’s freedom if they kept within the then existing social fabric. The author worshipped motherhood, but held women solely responsible for the institution of marriage, family and motherhood. In Agnisakshi, Sumithrananda (Thethi Kutty), who turns a renunciate, finds self-fulfillment only when Thankam’s son prostrates before her seeking to be adopted as her son. The author says no revolt against traditions will last without the sanctity of family, motherhood and marriage,” says Vasanthi.
She also feels that Antharjanam’s lone novel lacked a political ideology. “The story is told in the backdrop of India’s freedom struggle that was raging all over the country, but Antharjanam fails to give a substantial detail of the struggle. She also fails to make any mention of the struggle of the lower caste to gain freedom and equality despite the book dealing with the quests to freedom,” says the author.
However, Vasanthi holds the feminist voice in the book in high esteem. She refutes any comparisons of the feminism during the Pre-Independence era with today’s and says that the women, who rebelled their way to freedom in the 19th century were clear, strong and had a cause compared to today’s peripheral way of upholding feminism.
The retranslation, with a strong critical angle, however, is very relevant today. Despite being a period novel that spoke about the social fabric of the late 18th and 19th century and its cult status as a telling tale of the Namboothiri women’s struggle for social and political emancipation, it is also an ode to women who rebelled within the system, though unsure about its results.