SUBBAMMA DUVVURI (1887–1964)
Subbamma Duvvuri was a freedom fighter. She was born into a lower middle class Brahmin family of the Vaidiki sect. She had no education when young and was married at an early age to a poor man, Duvvuri Venkayya. His death a decade later left her destitute. She was childless and gifted with considerable beauty and without a friend in the world.
Luckily she was related to Tirupati Venkata Sastri, a popular poet of the area, and he instructed her in classical literature. Then nationalism inspired her and she became a follower of Gandhiji. She took an active part in the Salt Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement till 1947. She toured Andhra extensively, condemning the British and building up sympathy for the cause among common people. During this time she worked with Ponaka Kanakamma and Unnava Lakshmibayamma (q.v.). She was the first woman leader in Andhra to be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for political activities. She attended every session of the Congress, and started a women’s wing of the Andhra Congress in 1921. She campaigned to separate Andhra from Madras. In 1924 she started a school for women, the Sanatana Stree Vidyalaya, at Rajamundry, where places were reserved for widows.
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