The 113th birthday of renowned Indian poet Balamani Amma, regarded as the mother of Malayalam literature, is honoured in today’s Google Doodle. Balamani Amma, who was born in the Kerala’s district of Thrissur, has won a number of honours for her writing, including the Saraswati Samman and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour. Kamala Das, who was nominated for the 1984 Nobel Prize in literature, was also born to Balamani Amma.
She was homeschooled by her uncle Nalappat Narayana Menon, a well-known Malayali poet, and never attended a formal school. Amma studied his vast body of writings during her childhood. She wed V.M. Nair, the managing director and managing editor of the Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi, when she was 19 years old. In 1930, her debut poem, Kooppukai, was released.
She was honoured with the Sahithya Nipuna Puraskaram by Parikshith Thampuran, the previous king of the Kingdom of Cochin, who recognised her as a gifted poet. Amma’s early poems, which adopted the ideas and stories of mythological characters and depicted women as strong personalities, praised motherhood in a novel way. She earned the title ‘poetess of motherhood.’ Her most well-known works include Mazhuvinte Katha (1962), Muthassi (1962), and Amma (1934). (1966).
More than 20 anthologies of poetry, prose, and translations have been published under the name Balamani Amma. According to Google Doodle, she received the names Amma (Mother) and Muthassi (Grandmother) of Malayalam poetry for her poems that express her love for her children and grandchildren.
She died in 2004, and full state honours were accorded her cremation
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