When C. S. Lakshmi published her first novel, Nandi Malai Charalile (At Nandi Hills Falls), at the age of sixteen, she did not use her given name. Instead, she had the book published under the pseudonym ‘Ambai’. She claims that in those days, it was fashionable to use a pen name. Further, she was not very fond of her given name, as she did not identify with the dogma and rituals associated with it (she was named Lakshmi as it was customary to do so for any girl child born on a Friday). Her motivation to use the name ‘Ambai’ came from a character of the same name in Devan’s novel Parvatiyin Sangalpam (Parvati’s Vow). The character was a woman who’s husband asked her to leave, as he considered her to be beneath him due to her inferior education. However, she went on to become incredibly successful, and even rejected her husband’s attempts to reconnect with her, saying that she did not need him anymore. Lakshmi was immensely inspired by the character’s determination, and so took up the name for herself. To this day, she uses the guise of Ambai for all of her fiction writing, while going by her given name, C. S. Lakshmi, for her research work as a cultural anthropologist, or her critiques, and she distinguishes between these two personas very clearly.
It is also interesting to note that while her research work and academic papers are written in English, all of her literature is written in Tamil. Ambai received her primary education in Tamil medium schools for the majority of her early education. Further, she was greatly influenced by her grandmother, a self-taught Tamil scholar, who introduced her to Tamil literature at a very young age. She was also an avid reader of all of the Tamil magazines that her mother had subscribed to. It is not surprising then, that Ambai prefers Tamil to write her fiction, because, as she puts it, “this is the language in which images come to me”.
Having grown up in a rather conservative, traditional household and community, and having read so much literature in a similar vein, much of Ambai’s earlier works reflect this sort of orthodox outlook. However, as Ambai went on writing, her themes and style changed significantly. Perhaps the beginning of this shift in her writing was with the story Sriragugal Muriyum (Wings get Broken), which she wrote in 1967. The story describes the marriage of a sensitive woman and a crude, inconsiderate man, wherein the woman begins to question the virtue of marriage, and the sense of suffocation that she feels. When Ambai attempted to have this story published, it was rejected by all established magazines and journals. It was only later that she would come to realise that this was not because the quality of her writing was lacking in any way, but rather because the story questions traditional thought, and challenges a conservative lifestyle, something popular journals would not want to risk supporting.
This incident marked Ambai’s transformation not only as a writer, in terms of the themes and issues addressed in her stories, but also her worldview in real life, as it prompted her to recognize the way in which a certain ideology was being propagated, while other narratives and voices were being shut down. As Ambai moved away from her home, she grew more and more sensitized to the constant suppression that women endure. Consequently, her writing became a lot more feminist as well. She would later even go on to set up the Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women (SPARROW), with the intention of combatting this very prejudice. SPARROW is an NGO that aimed not only at creating an archive for women’s studies, but also to be an agent of change itself. C. S. Lakshmi is currently the the Director of SPARROW.
Some of the major themes found in Ambai’s works are relationships, body, and sexuality. Her passionate and compelling dedication to the cause of women is apparent in all of her later works. Her characters consistently question the prevailing social order, and challenge social systems in various ways. Yet Ambai resists the label of “feminist writer”, as she strongly believes that categorizing writing in this way restricts it. Her stories are also quite insightful, and often reveal a critical observation of contemporary life, and the importance of communication. She believes, and her literature reflects this belief, in the importance of truly seeing and witnessing an the experiences of other people. Further, her fiction can be seen as a quest for one’s roots, as we can only understand the way things are now by understanding our past and the way things have been. Her works are marked by a vivid sense of realism, as well as a touch of humour.
There was a marked difference in Ambai’s style of writing as well. While her older work followed simpler narratives, she began writing much more complex stories. In a way, her work has a very postmodern style. In her stories, one often finds portrayals of various different perspectives, and more than one level of narration. Yet at the same time, her work is still distinctly rooted in Tamil literature.
Ambai has also published a lot of academic and research work, under the persona of C. S. Lakshmi. In the year 1976, she was awarded a two-year fellowship for research. Her findings in this time were published in The Face behind the Mask: Women in Tamil Literature, a book which looks into the works of women who write in Tamil.
REFERENCES
“20th Century Indian Writing.” University of Delhi (Campus of Open Learning), School of Open Learning, University of Delhi, sol.du.ac.in/mod/book/view.php?id=855&chapterid=539.
“Ambai’s In a Forest, A Deer.” Women’s Web: For Women Who Do, Women’s Web, 3 Jan. 2013, http://www.womensweb.in/2013/01/ambai-in-a-forest-a-deer/.
Behar, Rebecca. “Purple Sea By Ambai – A Philosophical Fiction | Sulekha Creative.” Sulekha, Sulekha.com, 2012, creative.sulekha.com/purple-sea-by-ambai-a-philosophical-fiction_563174_blog#_ftn1.
Chowdhry, Seema. “C.S. Lakshmi: A Tamil Writer with Her Own Brand of Feminism.” India Today, India Today, 28 Jan. 2013, http://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/19991018-c.s.-lakshmi-a-tamil-writer-with-her-own-brand-of-feminism-781749-1999-10-18.
“C. S. Lakshmi (Ambai), 1944-.” The South Asian Literary Recordings Project, The LIbrary of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/acq/ovop/delhi/salrp/cslakshmi.html.
Kabiraj, Ipsita. “Where the Light Gets In: In Conversation with Ambai.” The Indian Express, The Indian Express, 10 Mar. 2017, indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/ambai-interview-in-conversation-with-ambai-4563842/.
Manivannan, Sharanya. “’There Is No Need to Specify That I Am a Woman Writer’: Ambai.” Scroll.in, 2 Sept. 2017, scroll.in/article/848822/there-is-no-need-to-specify-that-i-am-a-woman-writer-ambai.
“Profile.” SPARROW : Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women, SPARROW, http://www.sparrowonline.org/profile.html.
Ratnam, Dhamini. “C.S. Lakshmi | The Her Story.” Livemint, 9 Aug. 2014, http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/jsUXD0QSY9iDYKXPXoh7ZP/CS-Lakshmi–The-her-story.html?utm_source=scroll&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=scroll.
S.S.KAVITHA. “Challenging the Stereotyped Woman.” The Hindu, The Hindu, 7 Apr. 2010, http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Challenging-the-stereotyped-woman/article16364585.ece.
Tharu, Susie, and K. Lalita, editors. “Ambai.” Women Writing in India: The Twentieth Century, vol. 2, Feminist Press at CUNY, 1991, pp. 487–488. Google Books, books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=OjZYf9Xf9bcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR15&dq=Women Writing in India: The twentieth century edited by Susie J. Tharu, Ke Lalita&ots=3TK4UNWg_i&sig=S41-j8cQxTzD0dxwA3A1eNd9r-Y#v=onepage&q&f=false.
“Trustees.” SPARROW : Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women, SPARROW, http://www.sparrowonline.org/profile.html.
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