In the corner of the history exhibition stood the statue of a girl embracing her textbook like treasure. A man also is behind her like guarding the child from the evils of the world. People were gazing at them with worshipful eyes reminiscing their contributions to Kerala, when a little girl came skipping to the premises. She noticed the statue of the little girl, went near laughing broadly as if she were inviting the other to play, not knowing in her tender age of four that she was looking at Panchami and Ayyankali, the icons of Kerala Renaissance.
When a time education was accessible only to the members of the upper castes, Ayyankali, the social reformer, brought Panchami, a Dalit girl to Kandala Kudippallikkoodam in 1914. The girl was denied admission even though Ayyankali had an order from the then ruler of Travancore. Clash ensued, the school and especially the bench Panchami sat on, were burnt down.
The backward people, led by Ayyankali, resisted with all their might and Ayyankali announced probably the first peasant strike in the history of modern India. He proclaimed that the labourers would not enter the fields if their children were denied education.The incident caused massive agitations against the denial of rights to education to the lower caste marginalised people.
The partially burnt bench of Panchami is still displayed in the Kudippallikkoodam, which is now Govt UP School, Ooroottambalam. The ‘Kandala Lahala Sathabdi Smarakam’ was later inaugurated in the school premises to mark its significance. The LDF Government led by Pinarayi Vijayan also honoured Ayyankali by making the cover image of the budget for the year 2019-20.
