Kandukuri Rajyalakshmi · Telugu History

Kandukuri Rajyalakshmi was the wife of the reformer Kandukuri Veeresalingam, and his partner in all his work.¹² She lived and worked at Rajahmundry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.³⁴ The historian N. Kanakarathnam calls her the first woman of the Andhra region to take up social reform, women’s education and widow remarriage.³ She matters because she did much of the hard daily work that kept the reforms going.²⁵ For the wider story, see Women in Telugu history.

Early life and marriage

Rajyalakshmi was born on 5 November 1851 at Kanteru, a village in West Godavari district.³ Her first name was Bapamma, and she took the name Rajyalakshmi after her marriage, as was common then.¹ Her mother died when she was a baby, and her mother’s brothers brought her up. They gave her a little schooling.¹

In 1861 she married Veeresalingam. He was thirteen and she was nine.¹ After the marriage he taught her more. When no woman would come forward to teach, she became the first teacher in the girls’ school he founded.¹

Partner in reform

Veeresalingam’s great cause was the remarriage of widows, and the first such wedding took place on 11 December 1881.⁵ She took charge of these weddings and helped him perform them in the face of strong opposition.²

D. Anjaneyulu, in his life of Veeresalingam (1976), says she was his right hand in all this work.⁶ At one wedding she had to fetch drinking water from the Godavari, a mile from their house, and cook for the guests herself.⁶ Kanakarathnam adds that this happened at most of the weddings, because Brahmin cooks refused to serve.⁵

The work went on for decades. The women’s journal Telugu Zenana reported in January 1903 that the couple had performed widow remarriages at Guntur and Rajahmundry in December 1902.⁷

She also cared for widows who came to their door. Kanakarathnam draws on Veeresalingam’s autobiography for these stories:²⁸

she gave food, clothes and shelter to any widow who came for help, and taught them to read²
she set up a home for destitute and deserted women in front of their house²
she brought up a baby girl whose mother had left her, and named her Premavati⁸
with a friend, she lifted a Mala man who lay unconscious in the hot sand, when no passer-by would touch him⁸

Schools, prayer and songs

Rajyalakshmi gave up the worship of images and worshipped one God, in the Brahmo way.⁸ She wrote and sang her own songs, which were printed as a book, Geetamulu.⁸ Kanakarathnam says she set up at Rajahmundry the only prayer hall meant for women alone.⁸

In 1907 Veeresalingam took over the National School at Rajahmundry. Rajyalakshmi helped to build it up, raising money and permissions for a bigger building.⁸ She ran it as a school for boys and girls together, though many warned her against it.⁸ She also ran a home and school for widows. At one time it had over 150 women and six teachers.⁵ The couple toured Bombay to raise money for it.⁵

Death

Anjaneyulu tells how she died. On the night of 11 August 1910, Veeresalingam woke a little before her. When she did not rise, he tried to wake her and found her cold.⁴ A doctor said she had died in her sleep a few hours earlier.⁴ The couple had no children of their own, but they had adopted a boy.²

Where the sources disagree

Her age. Anjaneyulu writes that she was only three years younger than her husband.⁹ Kanakarathnam says four years.¹ Yet the birth years Kanakarathnam gives, 1848 for Veeresalingam and 1851 for her, are three years apart.³

Kanakarathnam, “Kandukuri Rajyalakshmi”, KJHS XV (2020), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Kanakarathnam, “Kandukuri Rajyalakshmi”, KJHS XV (2020), p. 39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
N. Kanakarathnam, “Gendered Anomalies and 19th Century Social Reforms: Kandukuri Rajyalakshmi and Girls Education in Madras Presidency”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. XV, No. 1 (2020), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Anjaneyulu, Veeresalingam (1976), p. 68 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Kanakarathnam, “Kandukuri Rajyalakshmi”, KJHS XV (2020), p. 41 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
D. Anjaneyulu, Kandukuri Veeresalingam (1976), p. 33 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²
S. Mahaboob Basha, “Sculpturing a ‘New Woman’ with Print Culture in Colonial Andhra: A Biography of Telugu Zenana, 1893–1907”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. IV (2009), p. 143 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩
Kanakarathnam, “Kandukuri Rajyalakshmi”, KJHS XV (2020), p. 40 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
Anjaneyulu, Veeresalingam (1976), p. 67 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩