SNV Sadanam in Thiruvananthapuram celebrates its centenary with a legacy of empowerment and schooling.

For Avani Pannicker, a pupil of Secretarial Follow from Kollam, the spacious SNV Sadanam at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram is second house. “I’ve been staying right here for seven years now and it truly is my house in Thiruvananthapuram,” she says.

It has been a second house for generations of younger girls who flocked to Thiruvananthapuram to review. Impressed by social reformer Sree Narayana Guru’s phrases to amass data to realize emancipation from dogmatic practices, girls from throughout Travancore reached the capital metropolis as the one faculty for ladies [Maharaja’s College for Women, now the Government College for Women] was positioned right here and it was a hub of schooling.

“In these days solely girls from the ‘higher castes’ might get lodging in houses for college kids. Conscious of the plight of younger girls who have been unable to discover a place to remain on account of their caste, Sree Narayana Guru entrusted TV Narayani Amma, a devotee, to open a hostel for ladies that may not discriminate on the idea of caste, creed or faith. That was how Sree Narayana Vidyarthini Sadanam (SNV Sadanam) was began,” says Anitha Balaraman, secretary of the Belief, which runs the hostel at the moment.

The saint and social reformer gave Narayani Amma a gold sovereign to put the inspiration of the hostel.

On July 20, 1924, the hostel started performing from a rented place close to the Authorities School for Ladies at Vazhuthacaud. Inside a short while, the then authorities recognised the hostel and gave a grant for its functioning.

College students at SNV Sadanam, which completes a century in 2024.
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NIRMAL HARINDRAN

Inside days the hostel was full. “Ladies got here from different districts and far-flung locations in Thiruvananthapuram. College students from privileged castes would simply discover locations to remain. The SNV Sadanam grew to become a haven for ladies from all strata of society to pursue their research,” explains Nalini Vijayaraghavan, president of the Belief.

BY 1935, there have been three hostels run by the SNV Sadanam and functions continued to pour in. By then Narayani Amma had handed over the working of the Sadanam to the Sree Narayana Vanitha Samajam. These on the helm of the Samajam realised the necessity for a spot of their very own for the hostel.

Inmates of SNV Sadanam collect for a perform. A photograph from the archives of SNV Sadanam.
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Narayani Amma’s chosen successor was Gourikutty Amma, a former inmate of the Sadanam, who had initially pursued her research on the Maharaja’s School for Ladies.

In 1943, Gourikutty Amma approached the then Dewan Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer for a plot within the proximity of academic establishments to construct their very own hostel. Though, she was assured of assist, it appeared to be taking a very long time and an official suggested her to discover a appropriate plot and purchase it.

“Then she approached her uncles CO Madhavan (former chief secretary and the primary mayor of Thiruvananthapuram) and CO Karunakaran (founding father of Authorities Medical School, Thiruvananthapuram), and apprised them of the matter. They suggested her to represent a committee to lift funds to purchase the land and construct the hostel,” says Nalini.

In 1944, a committee comprising revered members of the group, women and men, was constituted. Building started in 1949 below the cautious supervision of the stalwarts of the Belief and it was accomplished in 1955.

Standing proudly on an elevated house on the centrally positioned Bakery Junction is the SNV Sadanam that’s celebrating its centenary this 12 months.

Inmates inside a prayer room at SNV Sadanam, which was based to accommodate college students no matter caste and faith.
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NIRMAL HARINDRAN

With 100 rooms, library, efficiency house, prayer room, homely mess and a spic and span kitchen, the hostel is constructed round an open courtyard dotted with timber and vegetation.

Late politician KR Gouri Amma, a former inmate of SNV Sadanam, talking at a perform on the hostel.
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Luminaries equivalent to KR Gouri Amma, Justice Fathima Beevi, Justice Sreedevi and Dr. CK Revamma have been a few of the early inmates of the hostel that has performed an vital function within the schooling of ladies in previous Travancore. 

A classic picture of late Carnatic vocalist CK Revamma, a former inmate of SNV Sadanam, acting on the hostel premises.
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Over time, the house has been nurtured by devoted girls who led from the entrance. Underneath the in a position management of Gourikutty Amma, a working girls’s hostel was additionally began by the Vanitha Samajam on the Observatory Hill in Thiruvananthapuram. The Belief additionally started a creche and programmes to empower girls and assist them earn a dwelling.

Two extra buildings have been added to the property at Bakery Junction. One is the KR Indira Bhavan in reminiscence of KR Indira, who had served as its secretary.  Says octogenarian Anitha, who labored because the secretary of the Belief for 38 years. “The Indira Bhavan is for working girls. Every room there was furnished with the assistance of donors that I reached out to furnish the hostel. I used to be additionally capable of assemble the open air stage that we use for features.”

“Proper from the inception of the Sadanam, we’ve got had a democratic arrange with a president, secretary and representatives elected from among the many college students staying right here. That continues to at the present time,” says Nalini.

Indira Gandhi visiting SNV Sadanam in Thiruvananthapuram.
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Cultural programmes are organised by the scholars themselves they usually additionally interact in several cultural and literary actions. Final 12 months, an exhibition of images on the Sadanam supplied a glimpse of the dignitaries who had visited the Sadanam. Amongst them have been political luminaries, poets and writers.

A perform on the open-air stage on the premises of SNV Sadanam in Thiruvananthapuram.
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The bond between the wardens and the scholars continues to be sturdy as Sasikala who served because the warden within the seventies vouches. “Former inmates of the Sadanam, who now reside in several elements of the world, be in contact with me. A few of them come all the best way to my home in Alappuzha to satisfy me,” she says.

Because the Belief members put together to rejoice the centenary of the Sadanam, they emphasise that the intention is to make schooling accessible to college students from all sections of society.