The face of the revolution: Portrait of a female Communist leader in an exhibition held at the 24th CPI Congress (M). |Picture source: G. Moorthy
Among the female Communist leaders published in the exhibition, the 24th Congress commemorating CPI (M) in Madurai were Manalur Maniammal and Pa. Visalam, they continue to live in the pages of two novels. Sahitya Akademi champion Rajam Krishnan’s biographical novel Pathaiyil Pathintha Adikal captures Maniammal’s life and struggles, while Mella Kanavai Pazhakathaiyai is Pa. A self-biographical novel by Visalam. However, these two works are not uncritical of the communist movement.
“In 1979, 1980 and 1981, when I went to East Thanjavur to study the lives of agricultural labor and farmers, I heard about the rare woman Manalur Maniammal who died in 1959.
Rajam Krishnan said he joined the Communist Party after losing her husband at the age of 27 and led the farmers from the forefront.
Rajam Krishnan said in his narrative of the events in Maniammal’s life: “The first thing Mani found in the house was the sickle. She raised it and chased him (Pattamaniam Kariakaran, defeated Kanju, and used her fiery face and a sickle in her hand. She occupied the local witchcraft and she was more dizzy…”
Visalam was the first female communist in Kanniyakumari, part of the Travancore regime.
The heroine and gay married to Visaland’s real life, and he married another communist, Raju. Visalam stays in CPI and never joins CPI (M).
publishing – April 5, 2025 08:20 AM IST
