Hrdayakumari passes away

Poet Vishnu Narayanan Namboothiri consoling B. Sugathakumari following the death of her elder sister B. Hrdayakumari in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Photo: S. Mahinsha

Noted litterateur and educationist B. Hrdayakumari passed away at a private hospital in the capital on Saturday morning. She was 84.

She has been undergoing treatment for age-related ailments for sometime. The funeral took place at Shanthikavadom, Thycaud, later in the evening.

Daughter of freedom fighter and poet Bodheswaran and Karthyayani Amma, Hrdayakumari was the elder sister of poet and social activist Sugathakumari.

She was an active campaigner for education reforms, a social worker, especially as the head of a charitable institution for destitute girls, an author, and a critic.

As vice president of the Vidyabhyasa Suraksha Samithy, she was behind the crusade against politicisation in schools along with S. Guptan Nair.

Hrdayakumari had a long career of 36 years as a teacher of English literature. She had taught at Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam, Victoria College in Palakkad, and University College and Government Arts College in Thiruvananthapuram. She retired from service in 1986 as Principal of the Government College for Women, where she had earlier served as head of the Department of English.

She had served as chairperson of the Kerala State Higher Education Council to suggest reforms to the Choice Based Credit and Semester System and as member on the committee for reformation of school curriculum.

She had written extensively and gave lectures on literature, philosophy, and education. She had won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1991 for her book Kalpanikatha , a study of romantic sensibility through an examination of English and Malayalam romantic poetry.

Translations

Her book on Vallathol Narayana Menon in English was published by the Kendra Sahitya Akademi. She had penned several articles on education and on social and literary topics, besides translating a large number of short stories and poems. She is survived by daughter Sreedevi Pillai, Principal Correspondent with Manorama News .

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan, Ministers, and people from all walks of life paid their last respects to her.