• ISBN13: 9780199457007
• Binding: Paperback
• Subject: English Literature
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publisher Imprint: Oxford UP
• Publication Date: November 21, 2015
• Pages: 208
• Original Price: INR 445.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 209 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): Literary

The only novel of one of Kerala’s leading women writers, Lalithambika Antharjanam’s Agnisakshi is a telling account of a woman’s life glowing as though purified in the ‘fire of sacrifice’. Set against the history of Kerala, and life, customs, habits, and culture of the Namboodiri community, along with the fervent cries of the Indian National Freedom struggle, the characters act out their unforgettable roles: Tethi, the dazzling but disappointed bride who renounces worldly life; Unni Namboodiri, whose adherence to the Vedic way of life destroys his personal happiness; and Thankam, Unni’s Nair cousin and the mighty Aphan Namboodiri’s daughter, seeking her own liberation from the past.   True to the lyrical and emotional tone of the original, Vasanthi Sankaranarayanan’s translation offers a moving portrait of upper-class, upper-caste Kerala society just before and after Independence. 

Lalithambika Antharjanam

Lalithambika Antharjanam(1907a1987) was tutored at home in Sanskrit and Malayalam, and acquired proficiency in English and Hindi on her own. An active participant in the social reform movements of Kerala in the early 1920s, she won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Agnisakshi in 1979.

Vasanthi Sankaranarayanan has a doctorate in History from Madras University. Apart from translating works into English, she has curated the Womenas Film Festival, held by InKo Centre, Chennai, and has been on the jury of the International Film Festival of Kerala.