P. Kunhiraman Nair

Panayanthitta Kunhiraman Nair (4 October 1905 – 27 May 1978), also known as Mahakavi P, was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. He was known for his romantic poems which detailed the natural beauty of his home state of Kerala in South India as well as the realities of his life and times. He received the inaugural Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 1959. He was also a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award. P. Kunhiraman Nair was born on January 5, 1906, at Bellikoth near Kanhangad, in Kasaragod district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Puravankara Kunjambu Nair, a Sanskrit scholar, physician and vedantin and his wife, Panayanthitta Kunjamma Amma. His early schooling was with traditional teachers as well as at the local primary school before studying Sanskrit at the school run by Punnassery Nambi Neelakanda Sharma in Pattambi (the present-day Sree Neelakanta Government Sanskrit College Pattambi) where he was reported to be a lazy student. It was during this time, Nair started writing poems. He also fell in love with a local girl by name, Vattoli Kunjilakshmy. Subsequently, he moved to Tanjavur to continue his Sanskrit and Vedanta studies when his family arranged his marriage with Puravankara Janaki Amma, his cousin and bride-designate as per local customs. However, he declined the proposal and instead, married his lover, Kunjilakshmy. After marriage, he founded a magazine, Navajeevan, which was published from Kannur but after the publication became defunct, he worked at Saraswathi Press in Thrissur and Sree Ramakrishnodayam Press in Olavakkode. Later, he joined Koodali High School as a Malayalam teacher ad after a while, moved to Rajas High School Kollengode from where he superannuated from service. He died on May 27, 1978, at the age of 72, while he was staying at C. P. Sathram, a lodging facility in Thiruvananthapuram. He is survived by his son, P. Ravindran Nair and daughter, Radha.