Vasireddy Sita Devi passes away

She was a progressive writer; funeral on Saturday

మట్టి మనిషి (Matti Manishi) translated into 14 languages

Her works have become research material

వాసిరెడ్డి సీతా దేవి

HYDERABAD: Well-known writer Vasireddy Sita Devi (76) died at a private hospital in Secunderabad around noon on Friday following breathing problems caused by asthma.

She was hospitalised about 20 days ago and put on ventilator when her condition worsened. She is survived by brother Narayana Rao. Her funeral will be performed at Bansilalpet electric crematorium on Saturday

The five-time winner of the Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy Award never flinched from her duty -- of telling the world that women could liberate themselves easily in life than men who remain victims of their own egos. She was known as a progressive writer, a rebel and a feminist.

Midgets

In about 50 novels and anthologies of short stories, she portrayed men as midgets in stature while the women characters rise from the ordinary to touch Himalayan heights.

Vasireddy's మట్టి మనిషి (Matti Manishi) was translated into 14 Indian languages by the National Book Trust while మరీచిక (Mareechika) was banned. She never stopped questioning the system and its values.

In one of her interviews to The Hindu she was categorical in calling writers without social purpose as `no better than drug peddlers'. Her defiance found a true reflection in the characters she created endearing her to the readers.

Her feminism was far subtler compared to the more radical ones. Her works have become research material for many over the years. "From bondage to liberation and from slavery to independence, it is the extension of one's own self," she declared once introducing her characters.

Favourite line

Her self-confidence made her fight against gender discrimination in every field. She wanted every woman to remember her favourite line "if I was not harassed, it is not because of the magnanimity of the man but because none could dare to treat me shabbily". Jnanpeet awardee C. Narayan Reddy described Sita Devi as a top writer whose works reflected socialist thought process and scientific outlook with stress on equal status for women. Dr. A. Manjulata, Vice-Chancellor, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University said an era has come to an end with Sita Devi's death.

Courtesy: The Hindu