Reminiscences of My Life (A Biography of Mannathu Padmanabhan)

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Forty years ago, Mannathu Padmanabhan a Schoolmaster-turned lawyer, was fired with a mission to uplift the Nairs with persuasive eloquence, but without so much as a pie. He moved from village to village, organizing the Nairs into little village councils and setting up taluk and district councils with the NSS at the apex…..

In between his ceaseless constructive labours, Padmanabhan gravitated within the Gandhiarrorbit and years-agoheted a Satyagraha march called the Savarna jatha to establish the harijan’s right to use a particular road. Travancore was not only the land of untouchables but also of unapproachables. The unapproacha- bles were obliged to disappear from the streets, whenever a high class Hindu came to them...

Today, the NSS which Padmanabhan founded and of which he is the Soul, can boast of several educational institutions. He has also turned his attention to the economic uplift of the Nairs.

When in1947, Sir. C.P. Ramaswamy lyer resisted the integration of Travancore with India, Padmanabhan jumped once more into the political arena, led a powerful movement in favour of integration and was sent to jail. But soon Sir. C.P. resigned. The integration followed and Padmanabhan emerged from gaol, the hero of Kerala. His work done, he went back to his N.S.S.

This is an English rendering of the autobiography of a great son of India, great in every sense of the word. Sri Mannathu Padmanabhan was beyond the ordinary, in terms of the size, scale and significance of his achievements. He was indeed a very extraordinary personality, who worked with deep conviction, rare zeal and zest, and single-minded devotion, for the protection and promotion of the interests of his community and the well being of all.

Nairs who had dominated the political and socio- economic scene in Kerala, had fallen on bad days towards the close of the 19th century. Sri Mannam was determined to awaken them to a sense of their lost dignity and make them resolve to improve themselves. He, with some of his close friends set up the Nair Service Society in July 1915 (The Nair Samudaya Bhrithya Jana Sangham founded on October 31, 1914 was christened so on that day), motivated fellow Nairs to organize and seek changes in their customs, conventions and rituals, and built several institutions of which the Nairs and others could justifiably be proud of, and deeply gratified. Amidst these heavy preoccupations, he found time to take an active part in the struggle for national liberation, and Gandhiji's efforts to ameliorate the Harijans.

This autobiography written originally in Malayalam, tells us of the main currents of Sri Mannam's thoughts, and the important events of his early life and marvellous career. I do not know how far I have been successful in reflecting faithfully what was stated therein.

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