October 2025
Tamil Eelam Women’s Uprising Day: October 10th:
From before her birth until or even after her death, society imposes countless moulds upon a woman — forcing her to grow, dissolve, and live only within those boundaries. This structure has never allowed her to grow beyond or emerge outside of it. But history bears witness that in the land of Eelam, this great wall was shattered to dust — a transformation so remarkable that it gave birth to the women tigers.
In any corner of the world, when war erupts, women and children suffer the most. Regardless of who claims victory, danger, humiliation, loss, and pain fall heavily upon women. War has never and ever been a woman’s domain of comfort. In Tamil Eelam too, when the Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism oppressed the Tamils, the women among them bore double oppression.
On one hand, the Sinhala army became infamous for its inhumane atrocities against Eelam’s women; on the other, internal Tamil society also caused pain through caste, class, and patriarchal inequalities. The Liberation Tigers, understanding this deeply, advanced not only political liberation but also women’s liberation.
What began as a small women’s group called Suthanthira Paravaigal (Free Birds) evolved into full-fledged female military units — the Malathi and Sothiya brigades. The Tigers took women who were once confined within domestic walls and transformed them into political, intellectual, and national leaders — placing them at the forefront of the liberation struggle. Their revolutionary vision was far-sighted — women participated not only in education, medicine, police, justice, politics, and intelligence but also directly on the battlefield. Among the many who guided the Tamil people, our national leader stands as the one who lit the flame of hope and direction for this transformation.
In the history of Tamil Eelam’s struggle, the remembrance day of 2nd Lt. Malathi, the first female warrior and heroic martyr, is commemorated as Tamil Eelam Women’s Uprising Day. It has been 38 years since her martyrdom. Her last words on the battlefield were:
“I am wounded… take my weapon… give it to my leader… my weapon is safe… leave me and take the weapon.”
Even as she embraced death, Malathi’s mind remained steadfast — her weapon, the symbol of her ideal, must never fall into enemy hands. After handing over her weapon and ensuring it reached her comrades, she calmly consumed the cyanide capsule around her neck, kissed her motherland, and laid down her life in fulfillment of her dream — becoming the first female seed of Tamil Eelam’s revolutionary soil.
As our incomparable leader Methaku Velupillai Prabhakaran said:
“No matter how much we reform the material world, unless there is a deep transformation in men’s minds and perceptions of womanhood, true gender equality will not be possible. The struggle for women’s liberation is the fiery child born in the womb of our national liberation movement. Our female warriors have proved through their valor and sacrifices that they are in no way inferior to men in courage, sacrifice, and the spirit of freedom.”
In the grand sacrifice that made the leader’s dream of national and gender liberation possible, the first woman martyr Malathi stands as the guiding North star in the revolutionary sky. Those who carried arms on the frontlines, those who toiled tirelessly behind them, those who fasted and sacrificed their lives peacefully — all are shining examples of the strength of Tamil women. And above all, the Tamil Eelam mothers who gave birth to and offered these daughters to the nation — their courage deserves eternal reverence.
The Women’s Uprising Day thus stands as a symbol of the heroism, sacrifice, dedication, and inner strength of Tamil Eelam’s women — embodied in the life and death of warrior Malathi. On this day, let us remember and honor her, and along with her, all the women of Tamil Eelam who rose in unyielding spirit for their land and people.
🕊️ October 10 — Remembrance Day of 2nd Lt. Malathi, the First Female martyr of Tamil Eelam (1987)
Mrs. Vimalini Senthilkumar,
Policy Propagation Secretary, Senthamizhar Paasarai – Valaikuda (Gulf wing NTK)
