C.N. Muthulakshmi Reddy notched up many firsts — in 1912, for example, she got a 100% in surgery. She had been homeschooled in a small town of Tamil Nadu, Pudukkottai, and arrived at Madras Medical College in 1907 to enrol in the Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degree course. Though strongly dissuaded, Muthulakshmi insisted on joining the course and came out with flying colours. Born in pre-Independence India and influenced by Gandhi, Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy was a trailblazer, wielding a sword of resistance to the suppression of women.
In Muthulakshmi Reddy: A Trailblazer in Surgery and Women’s Rights, the writer, V.R. Devika, calls Muthulakshmi “a pioneer path creator for women.” Holding a Ph.D. on Gandhian communication strategies, Devika is sensitised enough to chronicle in a simple straight-forward style the life of Muthulakshmi, an unsung feminist who dared to storm male bastions in medicine and other fields. Devika wrote Ward 10 — Remembering Rangabashyam in 2016, about another illustrious gastroenterologist, born in Tiruvannamalai, who rose above the accepted norms in surgery, and like Muthulakshmi worked tirelessly to raise the standards of medicine and alleviated the sufferings of the poor.
A cultural activist herself, Devika describes Muthulakshmi’s foray into creating a secure space for Devadasis who were looked down upon by a conservative society. Avvai Home in Adyar was established first as an educational institution for Devadasis. The well-researched book reveals a slew of facts mostly forgotten, profiling her tireless work in fighting the caste system, detonating prejudices that surround a woman in a male-dominated society.
Cancer care
How many in today’s generation know about Muthulakshmi’s role in establishing the Adyar Cancer hospital which is renowned worldwide? Inspired greatly by her mentor, Dr. V. Shanta took the baton from her and along with Dr. Krishnamurthy, Muthulakshmi’s son, took cancer care to another level. When cancer snatched away her beloved sister Sundarambal, Muthulakshmi strove to research this dreaded disease and turn it from a sentence of death to one of hope when diagnosed early enough.
The accolades won by this amazing woman are many and the list is too long to be included in this short review. Fearlessness was the cornerstone of Muthulakshmi’s life, a quality she imbibed from her mother. The success she achieved in all her visionary projects against all odds, and the amount of work she packed into one lifetime, makes Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy truly an angel of god, and an inspiration to women who want to break the shackles of tradition.
As legislator she used her position to get laws passed to improve the status of women, but sometimes it seemed like a losing battle. The author describes the indomitable spirit of a woman who fiercely fought for girls’ education, widow remarriage, equal property rights for women, education reform and rural healthcare for women besides actively campaigning to get rid of the practice of wet nurses. It is wonderful that a book like this is accessible to the next generation, particularly girls and boys in small towns and villages. It will inspire them to become trailblazers in their own right.
Muthulakshmi Reddy: A Trailblazer in Surgery and Women’s Rights; V.R. Devika, Niyogi Books, ₹299.
The reviewer is a cultural and social activist, author, textile revivalist; she is setting up UDHAVI, an NGO embracing care for the elderly.
