Agnisakshi (meaning, With Fire As Witness) is a Malayalam novel written by Lalithambika Antharjanam. Originally serialised in Mathrubhumi Illustrated Weekly, it was published as a book by Current Books in 1976. It tells the story of a Nambudiri woman, who is drawn into the struggle for social and political emancipation but cannot easily shake off the chains of tradition that bind her. The novel was concerned with implied criticism of aspects of social structure and behaviour.
Agnisakshi was Lalithambika Antarjanam's only novel. She was famous for her short stories and poems. She wrote this novel in her old age. It has become something of a classic in Malayalam fiction. It received the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.
Thethikutty (Devaki or Sumitarananda) is married to Unni Nambudiri of the well-known Brahmin family named Manampilly Illam. He is young, virtuous, and loving but too orthodox to be the husband of a woman with Thethikutty's views. Feeling frustrated, Thethikutty leaves him once and forever and reaches her paternal home. Unni lives the life of a piety, is branded as an eccentric and dies. Thethikutty, meanwhile, finds no peace anywhere. At last, in the Himalayas, she meets with her old friend, the sixty-year-old K.M.K. Nair. She finds her unborn son in Mrs. Nair's son and hands over her wedding pendant to her daughter with the request to cherish it with due regard.
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