Unsung Tamil Woman Leader
Manalur Maniammal for a Global Audience: Translation of
Rajam Krishnan’s Padhaiyil Padhindha Adigal
Dr. S. Chitra
ABSTRACT
This paper deals with recuperating the ‘hidden’
histories of women through literature and proclaims them to the
present society. Rajam Krishnan’s Padhaiyil Padhindha Adigal
(Footprints on the Path) revisits the pre-independent period through
this biographical fictionalized narrative and retrieve the obscured
history of the woman leader Manalur Maniammal. This Tamil
biographical novel was first serialised in 1991 and then published
as a novel. It traces the life of Manalur Maniammal, a woman
communist leader who fought for the rights of farming labourers,
industrial workers, sweepers and scavengers. She dedicated her life
for the upliftment of the poor and marginalized communities of the
East Thanjavur district in Tamilnadu. Regrettably, despite her brief
association with the Indian National Congress and the Communist
Party, both major political parties failed to acknowledge and
appreciate her significant contributions towards uplifting the
marginalized communities in the Thanjavur district. In fact, during
her life time they actively hindered her remarkable development as a
political leader in the pre/post-independent India. As a result, her
contributions remain unacknowledged in the history of this nation.
Through the exploration of Maniammal's obscured history, Rajam
Krishnan celebrates the act of uncovering marginalized narratives
that have been overlooked in the annals of a nation's history.
Translating the novel into English draws national and global
recognition to such hidden histories of women leaders. The
translation gives regional insights into the Tamil society of that
period where gender and caste discrimination intersects throughout
the text. While Brahmin orthodoxy and male-centred political parties
stifle Maniammal, the landed Zamindars and factory owners stifle the
farmhands and labourers respectively. Maniammal challenges all these
authoritarian institutions. The multi-layered forms of imperious
hierarchies at the personal, political, cultural and Socio-economic
level is seriously examined throughout the text. The challenges in
exploring these layers through translation is examined in a detailed
manner.
Keywords: Manalur Maniammal, Tamil Woman leader, hidden history, dominant, marginalized, farming labourers.
