Kainikkara Kumara Pillai
Kainikkara Kumara Pillai (1900–1988), younger brother of Kainikkara Padmanabha Pillai, was a Malayalam teacher, actor and playwright, who wrote classics such as "Harichandra".[1]
Kainikkara Kumara Pillai was born in 1900 to an educated, middle-class family. His father Perunayil N. Kumara Pillai was a successful lawyer and an Ayurvedic pundit. Kainikkara obtained a B.A in Philosophy from Kumbakonam College in Trivandrum. He became a teacher at the NSS school in Kainikkara, and from 1924–1943 was principal of the Karuvatta High School. He became Head Master of Palkulangara High School in Trivandrum.[1] He was principal of Mahatma Gandhi College, Trivandrum (1955–56).[2] Among other positions, he was a Director of Educational Services of All India Radio, Trivandrum. He was also an accomplished actor, performing in many successful plays in Kerala theatres.[1]
He was Chief Editor of an educational journal called Vidyalaya Poshini.[3] As a teacher, he helped and encouraged the novelist Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai.[4] He was one of the more important Kerala playwrights of the mid 20th century.[5] A compelling dramatist, he was considerably influenced by the West. He translated Shakespeare's Othello and Antony and Cleopatra, and adapted the play A New Way to Pay Old Debts by Philip Massinger, with the title Manimangalam.[6] He won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for the play Mathruka Manushyan in the year 1970.
Selected works
- Durandashanga (1931 novel) – became a text-book at the University of Travancore and Madras University.
- Harichandracharitam (1933 drama)
- Balahradayam (1934 stories)
- Manimangalam (1938 drama)
- Mohavum, Mukhtiyum (1938 drama)
- Veshangal (1946 comedy drama)
- Kedavilakkukal (1949 book about Socrates and other ancient philosophers)
- Prema Parinamam (1951 drama)
- Agnipareeksha (1954 drama)
- Vicharaveechikal (1955 drama)
- Achane Konna Makan (1959 short stories),
- Anthony and Cleopatra (1967 translation from Shakespeare)
- Satyathinde Panthavu (1968 radio plays)
- Mathraka Manushyan (1969) – won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award
- Gandhi Vichara Veethikal (1970)
- Olichukali (1971 collection of plays)
- Nadakeeyam (1978 essays)
- Kainikkarayude Prabandhangal (1984 Collection)
References
- 1 2 3 "25 Sahityakaranmar". Menon.ca. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ↑ "Mahatma Gandhi College, Trivandrum". Trivandrum.co.in. Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ↑ "About School". Chettikulangara High School and Teacher Training Institute. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ↑ "A literary colossus, Thakazhi helped Malayalam literature break colonial mould". PRESS TRUST OF INDIA. 11 April 1999. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ↑ "Theatre". Art Kerala. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ↑ K. M. George. Western influence on Malayalam language and literature. Sahitya Akademi, 1998. p. 154. ISBN 81-260-0413-4.