She was married at the age of ten. At the time she had no education. She was living with her mother and younger brother. Her family sent younger brother to school but nobody encouraged her to go to school. Acchamamba learned Telugu and Hindi, sitting next to her brother while he was studying. She understood the value of education even at that early age and the gender discrimination.

That’s how Acchamamba, first, not just woman, story writer in Telugu (an honour denied her even now), learnt to read and write more than a hundred and twenty years ago, in a small village in coastal Andhra. And then went on to write : that women do not need men’s ‘protection’ but can protect themselves…and if men are unwilling to ‘give’ women education..women should form groups and educate themselves on their own. In a land of her imagination:

… men and women receive education equally. They all have equal rights in politics. A woman is in charge of the department of education. Since the security is supervised by women only, there are no prisons and no police officers, and no courthouses. Is it not all due to women’s education?

Satya introduces us to this writer, feminist historian, women’s rights organiser…remarkable woman.. who died young but achieved many ‘firsts’ in her short career.