Google Doodle
Today, Google is celebrating Balamani Amma, an acclaimed Indian poet on her 113th birth anniversary with a special doodle dedicated to the literaturist. Balamani Amma, famously known as ‘amma’ which means mother and ‘muthassi’ which means grandmother of Malayalam poetry.
Balamani Amma received a number of awards and honours including these three most prestigious titles:
- Padma Bhushan in 1987
- Sahitya Akademi Award in 1965
- Saraswati Samman in 1995.
Google Doodle today has been celebrating her birth anniversary by sharing an image on the homepage of the search engine. In the image, the animated concept image of Amma could be seen sitting with books and writing in a white saree.
Amma had been the inspiration for generations of Malayalam poets and also, the Kochi International Book Fair gave her a cash prize for the writers in her name, known as the Balamani Amma Award.
Google Doodle has already honoured Banamani Amma today, but we bring to you a little more to understand about Amma’s and get to know more about her life, poems, and rich legacy which she left for a number of generations ahead.
About Balamani Amma:
- Balamani Amma, a famous Indian poet was born on this day in 1909 in Nalapat
- Her ancestral home was based in Punnayurkulam which is located in Thrissur District.
- Amma has received a number of prestigious awards and titles for her poetry including the Padma Bhushan and the Saraswati Samman.
- Amma never got any formal training or education for writing. Infact, she was home-schooled by her uncle Nalappat Narayan Menon, who was also a popular Malayali Poet.
- Balamani Amma married V.M. Nair, who was the Managing Director and the Managing Editor of Mathrubhumi newspaper (Malayalam newspaper) when she was 19 years old.
- Balamani Amma was the mother of Kamala Das, who also received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1984.
- Amma passed away on September 29, 2004, at the age of 95, in Kochi, (Kerala).
Balamani Amma is known to be the Grandmother of Malayalam literature- Why?
- Balamani Amma, when she was 21 years old in 1930, published her first poem with the title ‘Kooppukai’.
- Her first gifted writing skills recognition came to her from the ruler of the Kingdom of Cochin- named Parikshith Thampuran, who awarded her with the ‘Sahithya Nipuna Puraskaram’.
- Amma was an avid reader of Indian Mythology, and her poems were inspired by them. She had a great understanding of women characters. Amma’s early poems glorified motherhood and she became known as the ‘poetess of motherhood’.
- Amma’s work majorly adapted the ideas and stories from mythological characters, and she depicted women as supreme figures but as ordinary human beings.
