Women in Freedom Struggle

“We record our homage and deep admiration for the woman hood of India, who in the hour of peril for the motherland forsook the shelter of their homes and with unfailing courage and endurance stood shoulder to shoulder with men through sacrifices and triumphs of the struggle”… Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s tribute as soon as he assumed power as Independent India’s first Prime Minister is a heartening acknowledgment of the many unsung heroines of the freedom movement.  

Domestic constraints did not deter women in pre-independent India from finding ways of participation that did not include public action but had them spin Khadi, act as secret envoys and messengers and ensured that those participating in the struggle received food and shelter. However experts opine that recorded history tended to be bourgeois, male centric and upper caste failing to record the innumerable number of women who made several sacrifices to liberate the country from the shackles of bondage.

“Even though history has brought to light the lives of a number of such persons, still underneath the water lie, a number of great women whose lives are a testimony to the great achievement of the nation” says Dr. K. Janaki in her book “Role of Women in Freedom struggle in Andhra Pradesh”. Chodagam Ammana Raja, Sarojini Naidu and Durgabai Deshmukh who participated in the Satyagraha movement along with Gandhiji, are some  well known women from the Freedom struggle. Duvvuri Subamma , Sangam Laksmi Bai, Mallu Swarajyam, Arutla Kamala Devi and Yallapragada Seethakumari  who took part in the  freedom struggle and the Telangana armed rebellion that resulted in the liberation of Hyderabad state also join the list of women whose  names are familiar to the Telugu speaking people.

 However for the few women who find mention, there are hundreds of others who failed to make it to the pages of history, despite participating in the Swadeshi, Non-cooperation, and Civil disobedience movements. They were lathi charged, faced sleep deprivation and starvation in jail and unlike men had to cook food for all the prisoners, pound rice and attend to other physical work which they had never done before. Some women even gave birth in jail under miserable conditions.

Paladagu Varalakshamma participated in the Swadeshi movement where foreign made clothes were thrown into the fire. She is said to have been jailed for her defiance giving birth to a girl child in jail. Maganti Annapoornamma who was greatly inspired by Mahatma Gandhi plunged into the freedom struggle influencing her husband to participate as well. She made a bonfire of foreign clothes, picketed toddy shops and presented all her gold ornaments to Gandhiji when he visited the W. Godavari district in 1921.

Katragadda Ramaseshamma was sent to jail and her property auctioned for serving wounded soldiers. The list of women who started ashrams, educational institutions, urged social reform, wrote articles filled with national fervor and participated in the freedom movement is long and exhaustive. Devulapalli Satyavathi, Tallapragada Viswasundaramma, Ponaka lakshmamma are part of this list and Nittala Gopalakrishnas book on women freedom fighters of Andhra Pradesh was inspired by the statues of 14 women freedom fighters of Andhra Pradesh that stand unknown and unacknowledged in a park in Rajahmundry.

It is time governments made efforts to chronicle the role of women who remain unknown despite playing a sterling role in securing freedom for the country. A nationwide effort in this direction could set right the grave injustice done to scores of women and inspire and encourage all those who owe their freedom to them. History freed of gender bias is certainly the need of the hour.