Pannisseri Nanu Pillai

Pannisseri Nanu Pillai (September 11, 1885 - August 20, 1942) was an Indian poet, researcher, ascetic, critic, and artist specializing in the Indian classical dance-drama genre known as Katakali. He was born in 1885 to Padmanabha Kurup and Bhavaniamma at Pannissery house, South Maruthoorkulangara village in Karunagappalli taluk, Kollam District, Kerala. His father died when Pillai was eight and after his mother died, when he was eleven, he was raised by his brother and his uncle. He was educated in the village primary school and then in Kollam High School, until his brother death. Outside school, he was taught Sanskrit by Karingattil Nanu Asan and he learned as an autodidact logic, grammar, poetics and drama. He eventually became a polyglot, with proficiency in different languages such as Malayalam, Sanskrit, English, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, and Arabic. In 1913 Pillai became a disciple of Neelakanda Teerthapada Swami and later he followed Chattampi Swami and was also close to Narayana Guru. Pillai could attain ‘Jnana Nishta’ by virtue of his acquired enlightenment of salvation. He secured the title ‘Vidyapanan’ after his treatise "The Objectivity of the Spirit".