Tharavathu Ammallu Amma
Born in the Tharavathu family in Palghat on April 26 1873 as the daughter of Tharavathu Kumminiyamma and Sankaran Nair. She was the sister of Dr. T. M. Nair. She was a self-made woman who acquired more knowledge in Malayalam and Sanskrit. She married thrice in her life. She rejected the title “Sahithya Sakhi” which the Maharaja of Cochin wished to confer upon her. She also secured a space in the history of Travancore by her by her grave attempt to give shelter to Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pilla and his family when he was banished from the country by Sree Moolam Thirunal, the then Maharaja of Travancore. She expired on June 6, 1936.
Besides authoring a number of books, she had translated many books from Sanskrit and Tamil to Malayalam.
“Komalavalli” is a Malayalam translation of a Tamil book written by Kumbhakonam T. S. Swami, based on an English novel. The twenty seventh chapter of “Komalavalli” is included here. In this novel we see how truth wins in the end breaking down the man made barriers of hypocrisy. The innocent attitude of this fifteen year old girl evoke in the minds of the readers wonder, sadness and a values for truth. We can imbibe from the heroine a number of good qualities like selflessness, service mindedness, compassion, sense of sin, fidelity, contentiousness, assertiveness, chastity, perseverance, stoic suffering, faith in God, discriminative power, boldness and seriousness.