Writing on women
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Acclaimed writer and poet Silalolita releases three of her works.
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IN POETIC COMPANY Silalolita with her work amidst other poets.
Acclaimed writer and poet Silalolita (Lakshmi) recently got three of her works released amid an august gathering of writers and poets. All her three works deal with women and women's creative expression. A lecturer in Telugu in GLR New Model Junior College in the city, Silalolita is better known for her poetry in literary circles in Hyderabad.The books released at the function held in Sundarayya Vignana Kendram on June 17 included Naari Saarinchi - a book of literary essays; Kavayatrula Kavita Margam (was originally PhD her thesis submitted to Osmania University, in 1998) and Entanta Dooram - an anthology of her poems.
Her book of literary essays is a compilation of a column of hers that appeared in women's magazine Bhumika published in the last six years. The column focussed on contribution of women to Telugu literature in different periods of history. Her thesis similarly focussed on women's poetry between 1980 and 1990. She has analysed a selection of revolutionary, lyrical and women-centred poetry written by women in this period.
Entanta Dooram is her second anthology after Panjaranni nene, Pakshini nene. Her earlier analytical work, Kavayitrula Kavitvamlo Stree Manobhavalu has been used as a reference book in different universities in the state for PG students in Telugu. Entanta Dooram had won her the Ramya Sahiti Award of Penugonda.
"Very few works of women in Telugu are recognised duly as literary masterpieces. Way back in the 16th century poets such as Tallapaaka Timmakka - Annamayya's wife - were expressing themselves in poetry. But they took refuge under bhakti to express feelings of love and longing. They could write of love for god and gain acceptance. Similarly Muddupalani," she says. Objections were raised in her time to her writings. It was a long route to unbridled self expression for women in Telugu literature. Women's movement and women coming into the fore as writers has today helped inform men's literature too - they started taking more care and were more cautious in handling women subjects in their writings."
Inspired by women writers, including her own mother, P.M. Mani - who used to write in a time when her writing was not encouraged - and Revathi Devi among others, Silalolita also took the pen name Revathi Devi's book by the title Silalolita. I chanced upon that book when I was doing research on women writers for my PhD. In fact a few universities were not interested in my doing research on women's writing - they assumed there was nothing worthwhile to research on the subject. I then completed my PhD in Rajahmundry."
Historians and analysts of Telugu literature being men mostly, they also ignore women's contribution to prose and poetry. But today, several dimensions are coming out in the open, thanks to the women's movement, including dalit literature, and minority literature. Understanding of women has also undergone a change. In the 60's much of women's writing came out in newspapers as columns. 80's saw a stronghold feminist movement in Andhra Pradesh and also helped give impetus to women's writings.
With a lot of writing in Telugu by women writers and poets there is still lack of recognition at a national level for them. Silalolita says part of the problem lies because of lack of translators and translations of Telugu writings by women. Even universities can encourage translations of women's writings in Telugu into English. "The kind of attention that poets like Sri Sri got outside Andhra Pradesh can be a case for women's writings too, which have been equally revolutionary and progressive as Sri Sri's works," she says.
Her books she hopes will help re-focus on Telugu women's' writings. She looks forward to publishing her other writings on Gujarat and novel she has been working on.
R.U.M
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