Tmt. R. Jayalakshmi (10-1919 to 3-4-2010) A Life Sketch
Smt. R. Jayalakshmi, mother of Pujya Sri Mathi Oli R. Saraswathy, was born on 10th January 1919. She was born in Dindugal and grew up in Trichy. Her parents were Thiru R. Ramaswamy Iyer and Tit. Mangalam. Sri Ramaswamy lyer was employed in the railways and was stationed at Trichy. Smt Jayalakshmi Ammal's Mother Mangalam was a good house-wife, expert cook and skilled in handi work Tiruvarur was the native place of Ramaswamy Iyer, while his wife hailed from Pattukottal, Jayalakshmi had two elder sisters called Nagammal and Dharmambal.
Smt Jayalakshmi Ammal was married to Sri T.S. Ramachandran on the 31st of the Tamil month of Ani in 1933. She was fourteen then. The marriage took place at Pondicherry Sri T.S. Ramachandran had studied London Matric and was employed in Colombo.
A year after her marriage Tmt. Jayalakshmi Ammal went to Colombo to live with her husband. They lived there till the 2nd World war reached its heights. Thiru Sundaram Iyer, a Violin Vidwan was Jayalakshmi Ammal's father-in-law. Her mother-in-law Smt. Kamakshi was a good natured lady Thiru T.S. Ramachandran had four brothers all younger to him TS. Gopalakrishnan, T.S. Subramanyam, T.S. Thiagarajan and T.S. Ganesan, He had three sisters Dharmambal, Annapoorani and Valambal.
Tmt Jayalakshmi Ammal gave birth to a daughter when she was 18. The child named Rajalakshmi passed away in infancy. The second child is our Amma Saraswathy After that Jayalakshmi had a son, Sundar, who also passed away in childhood. The fourth is Bhuvana who now lives in Pondicherry.
Jayalakshmi and her husband along with their child Saraswathy came back to India in 1942. They were in Pune and Mumbai and finally settled in Chennai in February 1947. Sri Ramachandran was employed in Addison & Co which he served faithfully and efficiently till his last breath. Sri Ramachandran was a gentleman, humble and polite. His wife was forward and resourceful. Vinayakar & Anjaneya were her favourite gods. She had firm faith in them. She was extremely pious and full of Bakthi Jayalakshmi's daughter Bhuvana is a good housemaker and fond of entertaining guests, She looks after the family affairs, while her sister R. Saraswathy has been dedicated to the society by their mother.
Mother, within Her Mother! The Mother of the divinity on earth the incarnation of Akhilandeswari, the divine treading on this earth-the mother to the mother of all living beings - Smt. Jayalakshmi Ammal shares with us her experiences, a few interesting, intrinsic valuable information - all abour her daughter - Poojya Sri Mathi Oli R. Saraswathy. The title of the book itself is striking. Through the pages that follow we would be able to know valuable information about our Amma, all that had been all along hidden within the heart of her mother.
Devotes of Amma who have very long association with her know about her well. But many do not know much about Sri Amma for whom this book is going to be a boon.
Many do not know about the ancestors and family background of Amma. Kalaimagal Sri Natarajan collected details about Sri Amma to some extent and published them in the magazine "Kalavalli" some years ago. Bangalore Seetharaman has a collection of events about Sri Amma. Before that Sri N.S. Ramanathan collected events and incidents about Sri Amma from her mother. But unfortunately they got destroyed in a fire accident that took place in Amma's house on 16th July 2006. Smt. Vijaya Raju who stays in Delhi visited Sri Amma's Amma in Chennai now and then. She spent time with her. sat with her with great fervour and ardent devotion to listen to her talk about Sachu. She has collected the material from whatever little Amma told her about her daughter. She has given appropriate headings to each chapter and has brought out the book nicely. Like floral decoration to the goddess, she has decorated each chapter with verses that poured down from her heart in a simple style. Her devotion to Akka can be seen through these passages. For her effort to bring out this book beautifully, Smt. Vijaya deserves all our appreciation and praise.
It was not written in one day. Over a period of time, on various visits to Chennai, she tried to spend time with Amma, meeting her on various occasions and at various places, on different days, depending on Amma's health, the conversation continued and Vijaya completed her mission.
Where devotion exits, there dwells humility. Vijaya is an example to this. She is none other than Jayashree Ravindran's dear aunt (Athai), her father Balachandran's younger sister. Another close relative of Jayashree is Ganesa lyer. He has served the Samithi ever since its inception, with heart and soul. He is now in his eighties and restful at home, in Srirangam. Jayashree's mother Saroja Balachandran was a staunch devotee of Sri Akka. She had donated liberally for all the activities of the Samithi. With a pleasant face and smile, she had served the Samithi even in her days of ailments and miseries. Her activities are worth mentioning. She attained mukti recently. Vijaya Raju is the younger sister of Late Balachandran, Jayashree's father. She reached Sri Akka's abode through Saroja Manni, Sacred background leads to sacred deeds. Vijaya has given the facts as Amma narrates it to her in Amma's colloquial language.
Amma enthusiastically shares her feelings and passes on the details to She had a good memory even at the ripe age of eighty-seven and did not bother about her physical weakness and ailments or fatigue. I offer my respectful obeisance to Sri Amma's mother Tmt. T.S. Jayalakshmi, who attained Mukthi on 3 April 2010.
As and when Amma recollected her past and continued her narration Vijaya managed to arrange in order the details chapter wise and brought about the Tamil version of this book. We are indebted to her and all glory to her. The translation into English has been rendered by Smt. Vijaya Raju an her daughter in-law Smt. Manisha Subramanyan.
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