Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, popularly known as Akkitham, is an Indian poet and essayist of Malayalam language. Known for a simple and lucid style of writing, Akkitham is a recipient of several awards including Padma Shri, Ezhuthachan Award, the highest literary award of the Government of Kerala, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry, Odakkuzhal Award, Vallathol Award, Vayalar Award and Aasan Prize, besides many other honours. Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri was born on March 18, 1926 at Amettikkara, near Kumaranallur in Palakkad district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Amettu Akkithathu Manayil Vasudevan Namboothiri and Checkur Manaykkal Parvathy Antharjanam. After schooling in Sanskrit and Music, he did college education but did not complete his graduate degree course, he started his career as an editor of Unni Namboothiri magazine, which he used as a platform for his social activities. He worked as an assistant editor at Mangalodayam and Yogakshemam magazines.
In 1956, he joined the Kozhikode station of the All India Radio where he served until 1975 after which he was transferred to the Thrissur station of the AIR. He was associated with Anaadi, a literary initiative for popularising studies of Vedas. Akkitham is married to Sreedevi Antharjanam and the couple has a son, Narayanan and a daughter, Sreeja; the family lives in Amettikkara. Noted painter Akkitham Narayanan is his younger brother. Akkitham's literary works began to gain wide attention in the early 1950s and Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam, a khandakavya is one of the first modernist poems in Malayalam literature, the book won the Sanjayan Award in 1952, he has published around 45 books comprising poetry anthologies and short stories. Balidarsanam, Nimisha Kshetram, Idinju Polinja Lokam and Kalikkottilil are some of his notable poetry anthologies. Upanayanam and Samavarttanam, two collections of essays, feature among the writings in prose. Sree Mahabhagavatham, his translation of Srimad Bhagavatam, composed of 14,613 verses, covers over 2,400 pages.
Akkitham has been involved in social reform activities and through his association with Yogakshema Sabha, he has strived to bring in reforms in the lives of the Namboothiri Brahmins of Kerala. He was associated with various centres in Thirunavaya and Thrissur, for the promotion of vedic studies, he was associated with the Paliyam Sathyagraha, a peaceful protest against untouchability in 1947. Akkitham received the Sanjayan Award in 1952, for his work, Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 1971 for Balidarshanam, he received two major honours in 1973, the Sahitya Akademi Award for Balidarshanam and the Odakkuzhal Award for Nimisha Kshetram. He was selected for the Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram in 1994 and, two years for the 1996 Lalithambika Antharjanam Smaraka Sahitya Award, followed by the Vallathol Award in 1997; the next major honour for Akkitham came by way of Vayalar Award which he received in 2012. The Government of Kerala awarded him Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, their highest literary award in 2016.
He received Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the Government of India in 2017. He could not attend the investiture ceremony due to ill health, he is a recipient several other honours such as Krishna Geedhi Award, Nalappad Award, Puthezhan Award, Moorti Devi Award of Jnanpith Award Committee and Amrita Keerti Puraskar. Arikil Akkitham is a documentary film directed by E. Suresh, which details the life of the poet from the perspective of his daughter, Sreeja. Akkitham. Ee Edathi None Parayu. Mathrubhumi. Akkitham. Akkithathinte Kuttikkavithakal. Akkitham. Sree Mahabhagavatham. Mathrubhumi Books. ASIN 8182648793. CS1 maint: ASIN uses ISBN Sarma, C. R.. Thelumku kathakal. Kottayam: National Book Stall. Sharma, C. R.. Thelugu kadhakal:dhanagupthanenna kachavadakkarante athyarthi. Kozhikode: Haritham Books. Akkitham, ed.. Samskrtha Malayala Nighantu. P. P. Raveendran. Joseph Mundasseri. Sahitya Akademi. Pp. 49–. ISBN 978-81-260-1535-1. "കൊന്നതാരെന്നു തർക്കം. ManoramaOnline. Retrieved 2019-03-08. P. P. Raveendran.
Joseph Mundasseri. Sahitya Akademi. Pp. 49–. ISBN 978-81-260-1535-1
Sukumar Azhikode
Sukumar Azhikode was an Indian academic, orator and writer of Malayalam literature, known for his contributions to Malayalam language and insights on Indian philosophy. He was a scholar in Sanskrit and English languages and his work, published in 1984, is a notable work for its detailed interpretation of Indian Philosophy and Upanishads, he was a recipient of several honours including Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award, Vayalar Award, Vallathol Award and Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary award of the Government of Kerala. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2007, which he refused citing the award was a discrimination. Sukumar Azhikode, born Sukumaran on May 12, 1926 at Azhikode, a coastal village in Kannur district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Vidwan Panankavil Damodharan, a teacher, his wife, Koloth Thattarathu Madhaviyamma, as the fourth of their six children, his early schooling was at Azhikode South Elementary School and he passed intermediate examination from Rajas High School Chirakkal in 1941 before studying ayurveda at Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Patasala for one year.
Subsequently, he joined St. Aloysius College, Mangalore from where he graduated in commerce in 1943, he started his career as a clerk at the Kannur branch of Indian Overseas Bank but soon quit the job to pursue a teaching career for which he completed the teachers' training course from Government College of Teacher Education and joined his alma mater, Rajas High School, Chirakkal, as a teacher in 1948. While serving as a teacher, he continued his studies through distance education and earned master's degrees in Sanskrit and Malayalam languages, he followed it up with a bachelor's degree in education from GCTE in 1952. During the next three and a half decades, he worked at various institutions, starting with St. Joseph's College, Devagiri and St. Aloysius College, Mangalore as a lecturer, as the principal at SNM Training College, before joining the University of Calicut as the founder head and professor of the department of Malayalam. In between, he secured a PhD in Malayalam literature in 1981, for his thesis, Western Influence in Malayalam Literary Criticism.
Leter, he served as the pro vice chancellor and acting vice chancellor of the university. Sukumar Azhikode lived a bachelor throughout his life, he lived in Eravimangalam near Thrissur, towards the part of his life and died on 24 January 24, 2012, at Amala Institute of Medical Sciences. He was 85 years old and was suffering from bone cancer for which he had been hospitalized since 7 December 2011. Sukumar Azhikode, considered by many as the leading Malayalm literary critic after the era of Joseph Mundassery, M. P. Paul and Kuttikrishna Marar and one of the greatest Malayalam orators, wrote a number of books on literary criticism and social issues, including Thatvamasi, a treatise on Indian philosophy and Upanishads which received 12 awards. Six of his books are on Malayalam literature,. Besides several studies on various topics, he published a book compiling some of his orations under the title, Azhikodinte Prabhashanangal and Azhikodinte Phalithangal which narrates his jokes and their situations.
He translated Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn into Malayalam under the title, Huckleberry Finninte Vikramangal. Sulumar Azhikode was an active commentator on the changes in the society and his speeches on the demolition of the Babri Masjid were reported to have been notable, he was vocal on contemporaries including V. S. Achuthanandan, G. Sankara Kurup and K. Karunakaran, among others, his war of words with Mohanlal, the Malayalam film actor, drew public interest, led to Azhikode serving a legal notice on the actor. He was involved in public exchanges of differences with Vellapally Natesan, the general secretary of Sree Narayana Trust and Innocent, the film actor and contested an election to the Lok Sabha, the only time he was involved in active politics. Sukumar Azhikode received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for literary criticism in 1984 for his work, Malayala Sahitya Vimarshanam. Thatvamasi received another honour the next year in the form of 1985 Sahitya Akademi Award, followed by yet another award, Vayalar Award in 1989.
He was the recipient of the 1997 DALA Award of the Dubai Art Lovers Association. The Government of Kerala awarded him for their highest literary honour, the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, in 2004 and the Government of India selected him for the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri in 2007. However, Azhikode refused the award, citing that the gradation
Kerala
Kerala, locally known as Keralam, is a state on the southwestern, Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions. Spread over 38,863 km2, Kerala is the twenty-second largest Indian state by area, it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, the Lakshadweep Sea and Arabian Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Kerala is the thirteenth-largest Indian state by population, it is divided into 14 districts with the capital being Thiruvananthapuram. Malayalam is the most spoken language and is the official language of the state; the Chera Dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala. The Ay kingdom in the deep south and the Ezhimala kingdom in the north formed the other kingdoms in the early years of the Common Era; the region had been a prominent spice exporter since 3000 BCE. The region's prominence in trade was noted in the works of Pliny as well as the Periplus around 100 CE.
In the 15th century, the spice trade attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, paved the way for European colonisation of India. At the time of Indian independence movement in the early 20th century, there were two major princely states in Kerala-Travancore State and the Kingdom of Cochin, they united to form the state of Thiru-Kochi in 1949. The Malabar region, in the northern part of Kerala had been a part of the Madras province of British India, which became a part of the Madras State post-independence. After the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, the modern-day state of Kerala was formed by merging the Malabar district of Madras State, the state of Thiru-Kochi, the taluk of Kasaragod in South Canara, a part of Madras State; the economy of Kerala is the 12th-largest state economy in India with ₹7.73 lakh crore in gross domestic product and a per capita GDP of ₹163,000. Kerala has the lowest positive population growth rate in India, 3.44%. The state has witnessed significant emigration to Arab states of the Persian Gulf during the Gulf Boom of the 1970s and early 1980s, its economy depends on remittances from a large Malayali expatriate community.
Hinduism is practised by more than half of the population, followed by Christianity. The culture is a synthesis of Aryan, Dravidian and European cultures, developed over millennia, under influences from other parts of India and abroad; the production of pepper and natural rubber contributes to the total national output. In the agricultural sector, tea, coffee and spices are important; the state's coastline extends for 595 kilometres, around 1.1 million people in the state are dependent on the fishery industry which contributes 3% to the state's income. The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages English and Malayalam. Kerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India, with backwaters, hill stations, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery as its major attractions; the name Kerala has an uncertain etymology. One popular theory derives Kerala from alam; the word Kerala is first recorded as Keralaputra in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription left by the Maurya emperor Ashoka, one of his edicts pertaining to welfare.
The inscription refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra. This contradicts the theory that Kera is from "coconut tree". At that time, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil: Chera and Kera are variants of the same word; the word Cheral refers to the oldest known dynasty of Kerala kings and is derived from the Proto-Tamil-Malayalam word for "lake". The earliest Sanskrit text to mention Kerala is the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. Kerala is mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two Hindu epics; the Skanda Purana mentions the ecclesiastical office of the Thachudaya Kaimal, referred to as Manikkam Keralar, synonymous with the deity of the Koodalmanikyam temple. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil chera alam; the Greco-Roman trade map. According to Tamil classic Purananuru, Chera king Senkuttuvan conquered the lands between Kanyakumari and the Himalayas. Lacking worthy enemies, he besieged the sea by throwing his spear into it. According to the 17th century Malayalam work Keralolpathi, the lands of Kerala were recovered from the sea by the axe-wielding warrior sage Parasurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu.
Parasurama threw his axe across the sea, the water receded as far as it reached. According to legend, this new area of land extended from Gokarna to Kanyakumari; the land which rose from sea was filled with unsuitable for habitation. Out of respect and all snakes were appo
Malayalam
Malayalam is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry by the Malayali people, it is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam has official language status in the state of Kerala and in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry and is spoken by 38 million people worldwide. Malayalam is spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states. Due to Malayali expatriates in the Persian Gulf, the language is widely spoken in Gulf countries; the origin of Malayalam remains a matter of dispute among scholars. One view holds that Malayalam and modern Tamil are offshoots of Middle Tamil and separated from it sometime after the c. 7th century. A second view argues for the development of the two languages out of "Proto-Dravidian" or "Proto-Tamil-Malayalam" in the prehistoric era. Designated a "Classical Language in India" in 2013, it developed into the current form by the influence of the poet Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan in the 16th century.
The oldest documents written purely in Malayalam and still surviving are the Vazhappalli Copper plates from 832 and Tharisapalli Copper plates from 849. The earliest script used to write Malayalam was the Vatteluttu alphabet, the Kolezhuttu, which derived from it; the current Malayalam script is based on the Vatteluttu script, extended with Grantha script letters to adopt Indo-Aryan loanwords. The oldest literary work in Malayalam, distinct from the Tamil tradition, is dated from between the 9th and 11th centuries; the first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. The word Malayalam originated from the words mala, meaning "mountain", alam, meaning "region" or "-ship"; the term referred to the land of the Chera dynasty Tamil dynasty, only became the name of its language. The language Malayalam is alternatively called Alealum, Malayali, Malean and Mallealle; the earliest extant literary works in the regional language of present-day Kerala date back to as early as the 12th century.
However, the named identity of this language appears to have come into existence only around the 16th century, when it was known as "Malayayma" or "Malayanma". The word "Malayalam" was coined in the period, the local people referred to their language as both "Tamil" and "Malayalam" until the colonial period; the held view is that Malayalam was the western coastal dialect of Tamil and separated from Tamil sometime between the 9th and 13th centuries. Some scholars however believe that both Tamil and Malayalam developed during the prehistoric period from a common ancestor,'Proto-Tamil-Dravidian', that the notion of Malayalam being a'daughter' of Tamil is misplaced; this is based on the fact that Malayalam and several Dravidian languages on the western coast have common features which are not found in the oldest historical forms of Tamil. Robert Caldwell, in his 1856 book "A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages", opined that Malayalam branched from Classical Tamil and over time gained a large amount of Sanskrit vocabulary and lost the personal terminations of verbs.
As the language of scholarship and administration, Old-Tamil, written in Tamil-Brahmi and the Vatteluttu alphabet greatly influenced the early development of Malayalam. The Malayalam script began to diverge from the Tamil-Brahmi script in the 9th centuries, and by the end of the 13th century a written form of the language emerged, unique from the Tamil-Brahmi script, used to write Tamil. Malayalam is similar to some Sri Lankan Tamil dialects, the two are mistaken by native Indian Tamil speakers; the Portuguese called the Kerala variant of Malayalam-Tamil Lingua Malabar Tamul. It was called Malabar Thamozhi; the first book to be printed in Lingua Malabar Tamul was Cartilha in 1554, which used Portuguese letters to write the Malabar Thamozhi. Ravikutty Pilla Por, written in the 17th century, is the shining example of Malayanma literature. Ananthapuri Varnanam, written in the 1800s, was among the last of these Malayalam-Tamil books. Itty Achudan, the famed Ayurvedic physician, used Malayanma and Kolezhuttu to write Hortus Malabaricus in 1678.
In the 17th century, the Malayanma script was extensively used by the Catholics of Kerala. Samkshepa Vedartham, in Malayanma, was printed in Rome in 1772; the Ramban Bible, written in Malayanma, was translated from Syriac by Fr. Phillipose and published in 1811. After this period, the British banned Malayanma and most of the books written in Malayanma disappeared; the British never supported or translated Malayanma books into Grantha Malayalam, which they chose to promote in the 19th century. Iravikutti Pilla Por, Vadakkan Pattu, Thacholi Pattu, Kannassa Ramayanam, Ramacharitham Ananthapuri Varnanam are a few of the Malayanma books which have survived. Malayanma, the indigenous Dravidian tongue, its great literary tradition were lost in history. In the 12th century, Kerala was invaded by the Tulu Bana Kings, with an army from Ahichatra on the Indo-Nepalese border. Keralolpathi mentions a Tulu invader called Banapperumal, the brother of Tulu king Kavi Raja Singhan of the Alupa dynasty, who invaded Kerala with a Large Nair army led by Pada Mala Nair.
Banapperumal established his capital at
M. Mukundan
Maniyambath Mukundan known as M. Mukundan, is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Many of his early works are set in Mayyazhi which has earned him the moniker, Mayyazhiyude Kathakaaran, he is known to be one of the pioneers of modernity in Malayalam literature and Mayyazhippuzhayude Theerangalil, Daivathinte Vikrithikal, Kesavante Vilapangal and Pravasam are some of his notable works. He has received many honours including Vayalar Award, Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. Crossword Book Award and the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literacy honour of the Government of Kerala, he is a recipient of the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the Government of France. Mukundan was born on September 10, 1942 at Mahe a French overseas territory and now a part of Puducherry Union Territory in South India. Mukundan served as an official of the New Delhi office of the Embassy of France in Delhi, his first literary work was a short story published in 1961 while the first novel, Delhi was published in 1969.
Mukundan has so far published 12 novels which include his works such as Adithyanum Radhayum Mattu Chilarum, Oru Dalit Yuvathiyude Kadanakatha, Kesavante Vilapangal and Nritham and ten collections of short stories. Oru Dalit Yuvathiyude Kadanakatha reveals how Vasundhara, an actress has been insulted in the course of acting due to some unexpected situations, it proclaims the postmodern message that martyrs are created not only through ideologies, but through art also. Kesavante Vilapangal one of his works tells the story of a writer Kesavan who writes a novel on a child named Appukkuttan who grows under the influence of E. M. S. Namboodiripad. Daivathinte Vikrithikal has been published By Penguin Books India. In 2008, Mukundan's magnum opus Mayyazhippuzhayude Theerangalil fetched him the award for the best novel published in the last 25 years. Three of his novels were made into feature films in Malayalam, he wrote the script and one of them secured a state film award. His novel Pravasam is the story of a Malayali.
Delhi Gadhakal, a novel published in November 2011 is his recollections in India's capital city, New Delhi. Mukundan served as the president of Kerala Sahitya Akademi from October 2006 until March 2010. Mukundan recived Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Novel in 1973 for Ee Lokam Athiloru Manushyan; this was followed by Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 when Daivathinte Vikrithikal was selected for the award. V. Puraskaram, he received two honours in 1998, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the Government of France and the Muttathu Varkey Award. He received the Vayalar Award in 2003, for Kesavante Vilapangal and three years the English translation of Kesavan's Lamentations received the 2006 Crossword Book Award; the Government of Kerala awarded him their highest literary honour Ezhuthachan Puraskaram in 2018. He is a recipient of M. P. Paul Award. 1999. On the Banks of the Mayyazhi. Trans. Gita Krishnankutty. Chennai: Manas. 2002. Sur les rives du fleuve Mahé. Trans. Sophie Bastide-Foltz. Actes Sud. 2002. God's Mischief.
Trans. Prema Jayakumar. Delhi: Penguin. 2004. Adityan and Others. Trans. C Gopinathan Pillai. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. 2005. The Train that Had Wings: Selected Short Stories of M. Mukundan. Trans. Donald R. Davis, Jr. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 2006. Kesavan's Lamentations. Trans. A. J. Thomas. New Delhi: Rupa. 2007. Nrittam: A Malayalam Novel. Trans. Mary Thundyil Mathew. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen. Nalini Natarajan. Handbook of Twentieth-century Literatures of India. Greenwood Publishing Group. Pp. 196–. ISBN 978-0-313-28778-7. "Mathrubhumi - Books--ദല്ഹി 1981". Web.archive.org. 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2019-02-04. "Profile of Malayalam Story Writer M. Mukundan". Malayalasangeetham.info. 2019-02-04. Retrieved 2019-02-04. Works and Reviews Interview with M. Mukundan
O. N. V. Kurup
Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup, popularly known as O. N. V. Kurup or and endearingly O. N. V. was a Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, who won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. He received the awards Padma Shri in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011, the fourth and second highest civilian honours from the Government of India. In 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by University of Trivandrum. O. N. V. was known for his leftist leaning. He was a leader of All India Students Federation, he died on 13 February 2016 at KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram due to age-related illnesses, aged 84. O. N. V Kurup was born to O. N. Krishna Kurup and K. Lakshmikutty Amma, on 27 May 1931 at Chavara, Kollam in Kerala, he lost his father. His childhood days were spent in Chavara. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Economics from SN College, Kollam, he moved to Thiruvananthapuram city where he joined Travancore University and pursued Master of Arts in Malayalam literature.
O. N. V. was a lecturer at Maharajas College – Ernakulam, University College – Trivandrum and Science College – Kozhikode, Brennen College – Thalassery. He joined Government Women's College – Trivandrum as the Head of Malayalam Department, he was a visiting professor at Calicut University. He retired from service in 1986, he received the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary award, for the year 2007. He was the fifth Jnanpith laureate from Kerala and the second Malayalam poet to win the prestigious award. According to a statement by Bharatiya Jnanpith, the trust which presents the award, Kurup began his career as a "progressive writer and matured into a humanist though he never gave up his commitment to socialist ideology", he was settled at Vazhuthacaud in Thiruvananthapuram, with his wife Sarojini, his student in his early days. His son Rajeev works with the Indian Railways Authority, daughter Dr. Mayadevi is a noted gynaecologist in Aster Medicity, Cochin. Malayalam playback singer Aparna Rajeev is his granddaughter.
O. N. V.'s first published poem was'Munnottu' which appeared in a local weekly in 1946. His first poetry collection, Porutunna Soundaryam, came out in 1949, he published a book named Dahikunna Panapatram, a collection of his early poems during 1946–1956. *Collection of 1500 songs. **Poems for children In addition to the valuable contributions he had given to the Malayalam literature, he was one of the leading lyricists in Malayalam film/drama/album industry. He was the part of many dramas by Kerala People's Arts Club which has a major remark in the revolutionary movements of Kerala. Kalam Marunnu was his first film, the first film by the famous Malayalam composer G. Devarajan. Since he has been active in film until date and was honoured with one national award and fourteen state awards, he has penned about numerous songs for plays and albums. His partnerships with Salil Chowdhury and M. B. Sreenivasan were so popular in Malayalam film industry, he has made many hit songs with popular music directors, including G. Devarajan, Raveendran, V. Dakshinamoorthy, M. S. Baburaj, M. K. Arjunan, K. Raghavan, Johnson, Bombay Ravi, Mohan Sithara, M. G. Radhakrishnan, S. P. Venkatesh, Vidhyadharan and M. Jayachandran.
2011 – Padma Vibhushan 2007 – Honorary Doctorate by University of Kerala 1998 – Padma Shri O. N. V. has won numerous awards for his literary works. 2015 – Medal of Pushkin 2011 – Kamala Surayya Award for Dinantham 2011 – Thoppil Bhasi Award 2010 – COSINE Award 2009 – Ramashramam Trust Award 2007 – Ezhuthachan Award 2007 – Jnanpith Award for his overall contributions to Malayalam literature 2006 – Vallathol Award 2003 – Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam Sahitya Award 2002 – P. Kunhiraman Nair Award for Ee Purathana Kinnaram 1993 – Aasan Prize 1990 – Odakkuzhal Award for Mrigaya 1982 – Vayalar Award for Uppu *1979-Pandalam Keralavarma Janmasathabdi Smaraka Award 1981 – Soviet Land Nehru Award for Uppu< 1975 - Kendra Sahitya Academy Award for Aksharam 1971 - Kerala Sahitya Academy Award for Agni Salabhangal National Film Awards1989 - Best Lyricist – VaishaliKerala State Film Awards ONV won the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Lyricist fourteen times: 2016 – Best Lyricist 2008 – Best Lyricist 1990 – Best Lyricist 1989 – Best Lyricist 1988 – Best Lyricist 1987 – Best Lyricist 1986 – Best Lyricist 1984 – Best Lyricist 1983 – Best Lyricist 1980 – Best Lyricist 1979 – Best Lyricist 1977 – Best Lyricist 1976 – Best Lyricist 1973 – Best Lyricist Filmfare Awards2009 – Best Lyricist Award – Pazhassi Raja 2011 – Best Lyricist Award – Paattil Ee Pattil – Asianet Film Awards2001 – Best Lyricist Award -Meghamalhar 2002 – Best Lyricist Award -Ente Hridayatinte Udama Kurup served and headed various office of state and central government organisations.
Notably: Executive Member, Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi from 1982–86. Chairman, Kerala Kalamandalam – the State Akademi of Classical performing
Punathil Kunjabdulla
Punathil Kunjabdulla was an Indian writer from Kerala. A medical doctor by profession, Kunjabdulla was a practitioner of the avant-garde in Malayalam literature, his work includes more than 45 books, including 7 novels, 15 short story collections, memoirs, an autobiography and travelogues. His work Smarakasilakal won the State Akademi Awards. Kunjabdulla was born in 1940 in Karakkad near Onchiyam in Vatakara, Malabar District as the son of C. K. Mammu and Saina, Kunjabdulla, he completed his primary education from Karakkad Mappila Lower Primary School and high school from Govt. Fisheries Technical School, Madappally, he joined Government Brennen College and completed his pre-degree and a bachelor's degree in science. He wanted to do his masters in Malayalam, he was dissuaded by the late critic M. N. Vijayan, a teacher at the college's Department of Malayalam. "You don't have to do an MA to be a writer. He heeded the advice and went to the Aligarh Muslim University to study MBBS, he was a registered medical practitioner and served in government sector from 1970 to 1973 and at Vatakara from 1974 to 1976.
He had three children. Kunjabdulla was living alone in a flat in Calicut during his last years. Despite coming from a conservative Muslim background, Kunjabdulla was known for his wanton and unconventional life-style, he chose to celebrate life. Sethu once said: "His calibre to depict. With this magic, he could have written great works. However, he chose to celebrate life and did not care to write great works unlike many of his contemporaries, his lifestyle can be cited as the reason for this hindrance." Though he was born in a Muslim family, he never wanted to lead a religious life but wanted to live like a human being. He always described himself as a Hindu despite being born a Muslim, he never hesitated to admit it publicly. In the 2001 Kerala assembly elections, Punathil unsuccessfully contested for Bharatiya Janata Party from Beypore constituency, he pitted against industrialist-turned-politician V. K. C. Mammed Koya of the Communist Party of India and veteran politician M C Mayin Haji of the Indian Union Muslim League.
He finished third. Kunjabdullah's decision to contest on BJP ticket was a surprise for many, he said in an interview: "They were the first to offer me a ticket. If the Congress or the CPM had offered me a ticket first, I would have accepted it, it is my commitment to the people and not any kind of affinity towards any particular party, that inspires me."Suffering from various ailments during his final years, he died at Baby Memorial Hospital in Calicut on 27 October 2017, aged 77. At the time of death, Punathil was working on an uncompleted novel titled Ya Ayyuhannas; the novel, centred around religion and spirituality, was announced a year before and was to be serialised in Madhyamam Weekly. He sent his first short story Bhagyakuri to Mathrubhumi Illustrated Weekly while he was still at school, hoping to get published in the children's section; however its associate editor M. T. Vasudevan Nair chose to publish it in the general category. Kunjabdulla has called MT his only guru, both in writing.
Smarakasilakal, published in 1977, is set in a region near Vatakara. The novel tells the story of Khan Bahadur Pookkoya Thangal, the head of a feudal family, the patriarchal structure at work within the family. Through the novel Marunnu, which narrates the story on the life of MBBS students and of a medical college, Kunjabdulla introduced to Malayalam literature the world of hospitals and doctors. Paralokam picked up on themes of death, another novel richly informed by his own life experiences as a doctor, he was a prolific writer of short stories as well. His story Kshethravilakkukal was chosen by M. Krishnan Nair in a collection of best short stories in the language. Kunjabdulla co-authored the novel Navagrahangulude Thadavara with Sethu, they discussed it together, wrote separately and edited it together. According to Sethu, it was a work with a difference, though born ahead of the times; the writer in Kunjabdulla had a great affinity towards Karakkad village in Vatakara where he was born. Many of his stories were reflections of his village and the characters like Vandikkaran Kunjhan, Bappu Kanaran, Moosa Musaliyar and Sankarakurup were real life people in his village.
The years he spent at Aligarh left deep impressions on Kunjabdullah. He was known as Aligadhinte Kathakaran; as an MBBS student, he spent 9 years in Aligarh Muslim University and during his stay at Room No. 31 at VM Hal of AMU, he would write short stories on Aligarh and publish them in Malayalam journals. His experiences in the Uttar Pradesh city helped him write some of his most read short stories. Aligadhile Tadavukaran, Aligadh Kathakal are some of the famous books on Aligarh that he wrote. Cycle Savairi, Jeevachavangal MoulanaInam Khureshi, Velichaththinte Maranam and Smasanathilekku Nayikkunna Njan are some of the most known short stories on his Aligarh days. Like Pookunjeebi in Smarakasilakal many of his female characters were strong personalities. Instead of depicting women in moodily love, he celebrated lust, passion of love and beauty through his women characters; the women characters in Kure Sthreekal, Pranaya
