Kothainayaki Ammal
| Vaithamanithi Mudumbai Kothainayaki Ammal | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1 December 1901 triplicane, Tamil Nadu |
| Died | 20 February 1960 (aged 58) Tamil Nadu |
| Occupation | Novelist, writer, publisher, singer, composer, social activist |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Genre | Novel |
| Spouse | Parthasarathy |
Vaithamanithi Mudumbai Kothainayaki Ammal (1 December 1901 – 20 February 1960) was a Tamil writer, novelist and journalist who is remembered as the first woman to occupy the editorial board of a Tamil magazine. She wrote 115 books and she published monthly Tamil magazine, Jaganmohini.
Vai. Mu. Kothainayaghi was the first female writer in Tamil, to write a detective novel. She had a multifarious personality and she excelled in fields like public speaking, social service, fiction writing and was a keen Freedom Fighter too. She was hailed as "Queen of Fictions" by her contemporary authors. However she was not well recognized in the books on the history of Tamil literature.
Kothainayaki, was born on 1 December 1901, in a devout Vaishnava family in the village of Nirvalur in the then Chengleput District of Tamil Nadu, to N S Venkatachary and Pattammal. She was named Kothai after the great child Saint Andal. Her mother died when she was aged one and thereafter she was raised by various relatives.
Child marriage being then customary, five-year-old Kothai was married to a nine-year-old, Parthasarathy. Her husband's family used the prefix of Vai. Mu. with their name, and Kothai assumed this practice, Vai referred to the family deity of Vaithamaanidhi, while Mu referred to Mudumbai, which was the name of their ancestral village. Kothai had no formal schooling and she could not read or write at the time of her marriage. Parthasarathy was insistent that Kothai should be educated. She also learnt Telugu language from her mother-in-law.
Even though Kothai could not read or write, she often used to sing verses from Thiruvaimozhi at home. This helped her to a great extent to become proficient in Tamil Language. Kothai was also very fond of telling stories to small children. Parthasarathy admired her skills and encouraged her by taking her to many dramas and plays, which became the seed for her future career as a playwright.
She was a great supporter of issues like, Women's emancipation, Social/societal Reforms. Her passion for this coupled with her imaginative skills, kindled her desire to become a writer herself. Ironically she could not read or write. So she used to dictate to her close friend Pattammal and thus was born her first play-Indira Mohana which was published by Noble Press in 1924. Not surprisingly she received rave reviews for her play in Celebrated Newspapers like The Hindu, Swadesamitran (Tamil) and New India. The great success of her first play spurred Kothai to continue her literary Journey. She also learnt to read and write, thanks to her friend Pattammal. Kothai tried her hand in directing plays and as expected succeeded in her venture. Many of her plays with the themes of Social Reforms were staged a number of times. Amongst them Arunodayam, Vatsa Kumar and Dayanidhi caught the attention of the public in a great measure. Kothai also published several short stories and three plays and two books.
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