K. V. Simon

Mahakavi Kunnampurathu Varghese Simon (7 February 1883 – 1944) was a Malayalam Christian poet from Kerala, India. He was also a musician, a teacher, a reformer, a writer, a Bible scholar and apologist. Simon authored around three hundred hymns or poems and some thirty books. K. V. Simon was given the title Mahakavi (Dean of Poets) by the Sahitya Parishad (Academy of Literature). His major work was Veda Viharam, based on the biblical Genesis. It was this work, published in 1931, that earned his name among the noted Malayalam poets. Simon was a prominent leader of the Kerala Brethren movement. Simon was born in 1883 to Varghese, a scholar of the Hindu Puranas, and Kandama, a poet. In 1900, he married Ayroor Pandalapedika Rahelamma (later known as Ayroor Amma). They had one daughter. Mentored by his brother K.V. Cherian, Simon began writing poetry at the age of eight. In 1896, he became a teacher at the age of thirteen at MarThoma School, Edayaranmula.