Acclaimed Malayalam poet and environmental activist Sugathakumari, 86, passed away Wednesday following Covid-19 complications at the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.
For the past one week, she had been hospitalised with severe pneumonia after testing positive for Covid-19 and was on ventilator support after her body stopped responding to medication. Doctors said she was suffering from bronchopneumonia (inflammation in air sacs in the lungs).
One of the most celebrated Malayalam poets of the contemporary era, Sugathakumari was known for her unique poems filled with compassionate empathy, human sensitivity and philosophical quest.
Born on January 22, 1934, she was the second daughter of freedom fighter and poet, Bodheswaran, whose real name was Keshava Pillai, and Sanskrit scholar VK Karthyayini Amma. Literary critic and writer Dr K Velayudhan Nair, who passed away in 2003, was her husband.
Inspired by her father who was a Gandhian thinker, Sugathakumari made her entry into social activism and was at the vanguard of the Save Silent Valley agitation which had garnered national attention in the 90s. Her poem ‘silent valley’ reflected her close relationship with nature.
She was a recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, Vayalar Award, Odakkuzhal Award, Ashan Prize, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and more. The poet also won the union government’s first ‘Vriksha Mitra’ award
