MuttuLakshmi Reddy Biography
ముత్తులక్ష్మీరెడ్డి
జీవిత చరిత్ర
Muthulakshmi Reddy (also spelled Reddi
in some British Indian sources; 30 July 1886 – 22 July 1968) was an Indian
medical practitioner, social reformer and Padma Bhushan award recipient.
Muthulakshmi Reddy was appointed to the
Madras Legislative Council in 1926. This nomination marked the beginning of her
lifelong effort to "correct the balance for women by removing social
abuses and working for equality in moral standards″. She was a women's
activist and social reformer.
She had a number of firsts to her name:
the first female student to be admitted into a men's college, the first woman
House Surgeon in the Government Maternity and Ophthalmic Hospital, the first
woman Legislator in British India, the first Chairperson of the State Social
Welfare Advisory Board, the first woman Deputy President of the Legislative
Council, and the first Alderwoman of the Madras Corporation Avvai Home.
Reddy was born in the princely state of
Pudukkottai of Tamil Nadu. In spite of various constraints faced by girls in
India of her time, she completed her higher education and was admitted into the
medical profession. In 1907, she joined the Madras Medical College, where she
achieved a brilliant academic record. With several gold medals and prizes to
her credit, Reddy graduated in 1912 to become one of the first female doctors
in India. Soon after, she came under the influence of Annie Besant, and then of
Mahatma Gandhi.
She was born to a Tamil Family. Her
father was S. Narayanaswami Iyer, the Principal of Maharaja's College. Her
mother was Chandrammal, a Devadasi. Her father was ostracised from his family
because of his marriage to a Devadasi. She developed a close relationship with
the maternal side of her family, and this closeness made her very perceptive of
the Devadasi community and their issues. Narayanaswami Iyer broke the tradition
and sent Muthulakshmi to school. Her enthusiasm for learning was so great that
Muthulakshmi's teachers decided to instruct her in subjects beyond those
approved by her father. At the onset of puberty, she was obliged to leave
school, but tutoring continued at home. Chandrammal wanted to search for a
bridegroom but Muthulakshmi had different aspirations. She expressed a need to
be different from the common lot. She was against the subordination of women to
men and rebelled whenever she heard people say that only boys needed education.
When Reddy passed the Matriculation exam
she applied for admission to Maharaja's College but her application was not
welcomed by the Principal or the parents of other students. Her gender was a
factor as was her background. The Principal thought she might
"demoralize" the male students. The somewhat enlightened Maharaja of
Pudukottai ignored these objections, admitted her to the college, and gave her
a scholarship. Her father suggested that she can become a school teacher but
she had higher aspirations. She entered Madras Medical College, completed her
studies in 1912, and became House Surgeon in the Government Hospital for Women
and Children in Chennai.
She later married Sundara Reddy with the
proviso that he promised to "always respect me as an equal and never cross
my wishes." In 1914, when she was twenty-eight years of age, they married
in accordance with the 1872 Native Marriage Act. After the marriage of
Muthulakshmi with Sundara Reddy she got her surname Reddy. Famous Tamil actor
Gemini Ganesan is the son of Muthulakshmi Reddy's brother Ramasamy.
Her name was included in the first
national flag hoisted on Red Fort in 1947.
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