Kondapalli Koteswaramma

Kondapalli koteswaramma
Kondapalli Koteswaramma at her residence in Visakhapatnam.
Nationality	Indian
Years active	1930-Present
Known for	Prominent communist

Kondapalli Koteswaramma is a famous communist leader, feminist, revolutionary and writer. She was born in 1920 in Pamarru, Andhra Pradesh.

Childhood and Early life

She was married at the age of 4 years to her uncle. He died within two years leaving her a child widow. She did her schooling from her hometown besides getting trained in music. At the age of 10 years, she took active part in the freedom struggle by singing patriotic songs in various meetings and congregations. She got remarried at the age of 18 to Kondapalli Seetaramaiah. Initially, she faced many social constraints as widow remarriage was not accepted by the society back then. After marriage, she stayed along with her husband in Jonnapadu for few years. During this time, she worked for the Communist Party in Gudivada. After moving to Vijayawada, she attended various conferences and worked for Women's association.^[1]

Work and Later life

She worked actively for the Communist Party of India along with her husband and the likes of Puchapalli Sundaraiah. She contributed actively to the Telangana Rebellion. She worked for the party for few years staying underground (In Bandar, Eluru, Puri, Raichur), away from her family and children. Shortly after the rebellion, the communist party divided into two. Her husband deserted her and she was left to fend for herself and her children. At the age of 35, she came to Hyderabad to study matriculation. She sustained during those years through the little money earned from writing stories and performing for the radio. Even while sustaining with such meagre earnings, she used to send ten rupees each to the party (CPI and CPI(M))funds every month. After completing her matriculation, she joined Polytechnic college in Kakinada as a matron. She started participating in the literary events in Kakinada. Later, she worked in various colleges across the state. She had a daughter Karuna and a son Chandrasekhar. Karuna was a doctor and Chandrasekhar studied at Regional Engineering College, Warangal. Both of them died under unforeseen circumstances. During these years, her husband established the People's war party in India and worked actively towards it. But he got ousted later on from his own party and was jailed. He suffered mental illness and died at the age of 87 in his grand daughter's (daughter of Karuna) place. Koteswaramma lived in Vijayawada for few years and later on moved to Chandra Rajewsara Rao Old age home in Hyderabad.

Literary works

Koteswaramma has penned various books, essays and songs to date. The notable ones include Amma Cheppina Aidu Geyalu (1972), Ashru Sameekshanam (1991), Sanghamitra Kathalu (1991). Her autobiography Nirjana Vaaradhi (2012) was published by the Hyderabad Book Trust. It was translated to English as "The Sharp Knife of Memory" ^[2] and into other Indian languages.

Other

She has been actively involved in Communist, Naxalbari, Feminist, Freedom and Reformist movements throughout her life. Presently, she is living in Visakhapatnam along with her grand daughter. At the age of 96, she continues her literary pursuits.

References

Nirjana Vaaradhi (lit. Deserted Bridge), Autobiographical memoir of Kondapalli Koteswaramma.