https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=R._S._SubbalakshmiR. S. Subbalakshmi - Revision history2026-08-18T06:00:42ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=R._S._Subbalakshmi&diff=292775&oldid=prev->Citation bot: Add: year, title. Changed bare reference to CS1/2. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by BrownHairedGirl | Linked from User:BrownHairedGirl/Articles_with_bare_links | #UCB_webform_linked 668/20872021-07-27T12:56:27Z<p>Add: year, title. Changed bare reference to CS1/2. | <a href="https://en.bharatpedia.org/wiki/BP:UCB" class="extiw" title="wp:UCB">Use this bot</a>. <a href="https://en.bharatpedia.org/wiki/BP:DBUG" class="extiw" title="wp:DBUG">Report bugs</a>. | Suggested by BrownHairedGirl | Linked from User:BrownHairedGirl/Articles_with_bare_links | #UCB_webform_linked 668/2087</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Indian social activist (1886-1969)}}<br />
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = R.S.Subbalakshmi<br />
| image = Sister Subbalakshmi with some ladies of Madras.jpg<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1886|08|18}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Mylapore, Madras]], India<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|12|20|1886|08|18|df=y}}<br />
| death_place = [[Madras]]<br />
| resting_place = <br />
| occupation = [[Social reformer]], [[educationist]], Member of [[Madras Legislative Council]], [[Madras Presidency]]<br />
| education = [[Botany]]<br />
| alma_mater = [[Presidency College, Madras]]<br />
| movement = Rehabilitation of child widows through education<br />
| awards = [[Kaiser-i-Hind]] award, [[Padma Shree]] award<br />
| website = {{url|sites.google.com/site/sisterrssubbalakshmi/}}<br />
| }}<br />
Sister '''R. S. Subbalakshmi''' (sometimes spelled '''Subbulakshmi''' or '''Subhalakshmi''') (18 August 1886&nbsp;– 20 December 1969), was a [[social reformer]] and [[educationist]] in India.<br />
<br />
==Early life and education==<br />
Subbalakshmi was born at the remote Thanjavur village of Rishiyur,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://srkmsaradavidyalaya.org/about-us/our-founder/|title = About Us}}</ref> the other view was Mylapore in [[Madras]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Felton|first=Monica|title=A Child Widow's Story|year=2003|publisher=Katha|isbn=81-87649-91-7|pages=13, 14}}</ref> as the first daughter of Visalakshi and R. V. Subramania Iyer (a civil engineer. Her father, R.V. Subramania Iyer was employed in the Public Works Department of the Madras Presidency),.<ref name="Who's who">{{cite book|title=The Who's who in Madras: ... A pictorial who's who of distinguished personages, princes, zemindars and noblemen in the Madras Presidency|year=1940|publisher=Pearl Press|pages=247}}</ref> They belonged to an orthodox Tamil [[Brahmin]] family from the [[Thanjavur]] district. Subbalakshmi was ranked first in the public examination in the Chingleput District, for the fourth standard of the Madras Presidency at the age of nine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramanathan|first=Malathi|title=Sister R.S.Subbalakshmi,Social Reformer and Educationist|year=1989|publisher=Lok Vangmaya Griha|location=Bombay|pages=11}}</ref> She was married while very young, as was customary, but her husband died soon after.<ref>{{cite book|last=Felton|first=Monica|title=A Child Widow's Story|year=2003|publisher=Katha|isbn=81-87649-91-7|pages=36}}</ref> In April 1911, she became the first Hindu woman to graduate from the Madras Presidency<ref>http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2020%20No%2024/madras-first-hindu-woman-graduate.html</ref> and she did this with First Class Honors from [[Presidency College, Madras]].<ref name="Malathi Ramanathan p 24" /><br />
<br />
==Work==<br />
[[File:R.S.Subbalakshmi early 1900s.jpg|thumbnail|right|Young Subbalakshmi]]<br />
In 1912, she founded the Sarada Ladies Union to provide a meeting ground and platform for housewives and other ladies to promote consciousness among them regarding social problems and to encourage them to educate themselves and the Sarada Illam or Widow's Home,<ref name="Malathi Ramanathan p 24">{{cite book|last=Ramanathan|first=Malathi|title=Sister R.S.Subbalakshmi, Social Reformer and Educationist|year=1989|publisher=Lok Vangmaya Griha|location=Bombay|pages=24–26}}</ref> which rehabilitated and educated child widows in Madras.<ref name="Malathi Ramanathan p 24" /> Later, in 1921 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://srkmsaradavidyalaya.org/about-us/presidents-welcome/|title=About Us}}</ref> or 1927, she established the Sarada Vidyalaya under the aegis of the Sarada Ladies Union.<ref name="Malathi Ramanathan p 24" /> <br />
In 1922 she inaugurated the Lady Willingdon Training College and Practice School and was its first principal.<ref name=Forbes>{{cite book|last=Forbes|first=Geraldine|title=Women in Modern India |volume=4 |orig-year=1996 |year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-65377-0 |pages=57–60|edition=Reprinted |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC}}</ref> She also established the Srividya Kalanilayam, a school for adult women at [[Mylapore]] in 1942,<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramanathan|first=Malathi|title=Sister R.S.Subbalakshmi, Social Reformer and Educationist|year=1989|publisher=Lok Vangmaya Griha|location=Bombay|pages=91–93}}</ref> and while she was the president of the Mylapore Ladies Club, she formed the Mylapore Ladies Club School Society, in 1956, which was then renamed as the Vidya Mandir School, in Mylapore.<ref name="Malathi Ramanathan p 24" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Ramanathan|first=Malathi|title=Sister R.S.Subbalakshmi, Social Reformer and Educationist|year=1989|publisher=Lok Vangmaya Griha|location=Bombay|pages=101–105}}</ref> In addition, she was involved in setting up a social welfare center for women and children in [[Madambakkam]] village. near [[Tambaram]], in 1954.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramanathan|first=Malathi|title=Sister R.S.Subbalakshmi, Social Reformer and Educationist|year=1989|publisher=Lok Vangmaya Griha|location=Bombay|pages=123}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Awards and recognition==<br />
The government of the [[British Raj]] honoured her with the [[Kaisar-i-Hind]] Gold Medal for Public Service in 1920,{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} and in 1958, after [[independence of India]], the Indian Government awarded her the [[Padma Shri]].<ref name="Padma Shri">{{cite web|last=Search|first=Padma Shri Awardee|title=Padma Shri awardees list|url=http://india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php|access-date=23 April 2012}}</ref><ref name=Photo>{{cite web|last=Padma Shri Awardees|first=Photos of|title=Padma Shri Award photo|url=http://photodivision.gov.in/IntroPhotodetails.asp?thisPage=1007|publisher=Government of India|access-date=26 April 2012}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Political career==<br />
While she was in government service as Headmistress of the Lady Willingdon Training College and Superintendent of the Ice House Hostel, Subbalakshmi was prohibited from joining the [[Women's Indian Association]].<ref name=Forbes /> To keep her school running Subbalakshmi compromised on her beliefs and efforts against child marriage. Nevertheless, using her fluency in [[Tamil language|Tamil]], she made efforts to abolish [[child marriage]] and to encourage education of girls. The historic, first conference, of the then newly established All India Women's Conference, called the "All India Women's Conference on Educational Reform", was held at the Fergusson College, Poona in January 1927.<ref name="Aparna Basu">{{cite book|last=Ray|first=Aparna Basu, Bharati|title=Women's struggle : a history of the All India Women's Conference, 1927–2002|year=2003|publisher=Manohar|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-7304-476-2|pages=23, 213|edition=2nd}}</ref> Subbalakshmi was one of the fifty eight prominent delegates attending this meeting.<ref name="Aparna Basu" /><ref name=Theosophist>{{cite book|last=Besant|first=Annie|title=Theosophist Magazine January 1927&nbsp;– March 1927|year=2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|pages=630–633}}</ref> She actively supported the [[Child Marriage Restraint Act]], passed in 1930, and appeared before the Joshi committee<ref name=Forbes /><ref name=rappaport>{{cite book|last=Rappaport|first=Helen|title=Encyclopedia of women social reformers|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediawome00rapp|url-access=limited|year=2001|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.]|isbn=978-1-57607-101-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediawome00rapp/page/n698 652]}}</ref> which formulated the Act instrumental in raising the marriageable age of girls to fourteen and boys to sixteen. After retirement, she was involved in the activities of the Women's Indian Association, through which she befriended [[Annie Besant]] and others. She served as a nominated member of the [[Madras Legislative Council]] from 1952 to 1956.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramanathan|first=Malathi|title=Sister Subbalakshmi Sister Subbalakshmi Ammal Birth Centenary Souvenir|year=1986|publisher=Sarada Ladies Union|location=Madras}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Death==<br />
Subbulakshmi died on 20 December 1969 on an [[Ekadashi]] Day.<ref name=Rajaji>{{cite journal|last=Rajagopalachari|first=C|title=Sahodari Subbalakshmi Sevai: Rajaji's Garland of Praise|journal=Sister Subbalakshmi Ammal First Commemorative Souvenir|year=1970|issue=Madras Sarada Ladies Union}}</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
<br />
==Further reading==<br />
*{{cite book |title=Feminism and World Religions |editor1-first=Arvind |editor1-last=Sharma |editor2-first=Katherine K. |editor2-last=Young |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7914-4024-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fkay_WoTdHcC |chapter=Brimming with Bhakti, Embodiments of Shakti: Devotees, Deities, Performers, Reformers, and Other Women of Power in the Hindu Tradition |last=Narayanan |first=Vasudha}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
{{Commons category|R. S. Subbalakshmi}}<br />
<br />
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Subbalakshmi, R. S.}}<br />
[[Category:Indian women activists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women educational theorists]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work]]<br />
[[Category:1886 births]]<br />
[[Category:1969 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Presidency College, Chennai alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Indian social reformers]]<br />
[[Category:University of Madras alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Tamil scholars]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian women]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian people]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Scholars from Chennai]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Tamil people]]<br />
[[Category:Women in Tamil Nadu politics]]<br />
[[Category:Women's education in India]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]<br />
[[Category:Scientists from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian social scientists]]<br />
[[Category:Women scientists from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:Trade unionists from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women trade unionists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Politicians from Chennai]]<br />
[[Category:Women educators from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:Educators from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]</div>->Citation bot