Edappally Raghavan Pillai (30 May 1909 – 4 July 1936) was an Indian poet of

Malayalam literature Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a Sou ...

and a close associate of

Changampuzha Krishna Pillai Changampuzha Krishna Pillai (Malayalam: ചങ്ങമ്പുഴ കൃഷ്ണപിള്ള; 10 October 1911 – 17 June 1948) was a celebrated Malayalam poet from Kerala, India, known for his elegy ''Ramanan'' (Malayalam: രമണന ...

. The pair, the front-runners of romanticism in Malayalam, was considered by many as the Shelley and

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

combination of

Malayalam poetry Malayalam poetry is poetry written, spoken, or composed in Modern, as well as Old and Classical, Malayalam. History The history of Malayalam poetry dates back to the 12th century; the earliest poetic work in a near-Malayalam language, or what mi ...

Kesari Balakrishna Pillai Akathoot Balakrishna Pillai (1889–1960), better known as Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, was a Malayalam writer, art and literary critic and journalist, considered by many as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Kerala. He was the eponymous ...

compared Pillai to the Italian poet,

Giacomo Leopardi Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (, ; 29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. He is considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one of ...

Biography

Raghavan Pillai was born on May 30, 1909, at Elamakkara, near

Edapally Edappally or Idappalli is a region in the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. It is a major commercial centre as well as a prominent residential region. Edappally junction is one of the busiest junctions in the city. History Edappally in English ...

Ernakulam district Ernakulam, ; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'', in Malayalam: എറണാകുളം), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, that takes its name from the eponymous city division in Kochi. It is situated in the central part o ...

of the south Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

to Pavathu Neelakanda Pillai and Kalyani Amma, in a family with limited financial means. His mother died when he was young and his father, who was an alcoholic, remarried; he could not get along well with his step mother. His early schooling was at a local school in Ponekkara after which he completed middle school from the English School in Edapally Chuttupadukara before completing his high school education from a school in

Cheranellore Cheranallur or Cheranellore or Cheranelloor is a suburb of Kochi city in the state of Kerala, India and lies on the banks of the Periyar River. According to tradition, the area was named by its earlier inhabitants who found this place very fert ...

and later at

St. Albert's HSS, Ernakulam St. Albert's HSS (St. Albert's Higher Secondary School) is a boys school at Banerji Road in Kochi, India. It was popularly known as St. Albert's High School till 1998, when it was upgraded to a higher secondary school. It is the oldest boys sc ...

; he passed the 10th standard examination only on the second attempt. During this period, he worked as a private tuition teacher and he fell in love with one of his students who came from a rich family in Edapally. The girl's parents discover it and forced him to leave Edapally. Pillai moved to Thiruvananthapuram where he stayed with a friend by name M. Balakrishnan Nair and worked at various establishments viz. Bhashabhivardhini Book Depot, ''Sreemathi'' weekly and ''Kerala Kesari'' magazine as well as at a local grocery shop as their accountant. He also tried unsuccessfully to pass Vidwan examination. When ''Kerala Kesari'' was closed down, he moved to

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

where he was accommodated by V. M. Narayana Pillai, a known lawyer and a relative of the girl he loved. It was here he learned about the marriage of the girl when the lawyer received her wedding invitation. On July 4, 1936, when the lawyer was away from home to attend the girl's wedding, Pillai, aged 27, bathed himself clean and wore a jasmine garland before killing himself. His body was found the next morning, hanging from a tree.

Legacy

Raghavan Pillai was a close friend of

and the friends were referred to as ''Edapally poets'' or as the ''twins of Edapally''. Both the poets were exponents of

romantic poetry Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18t ...

which earned them the epithet, '' Shelley and

combination of

''. It is believed that the

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

play, ''

Ramanan ''Ramanan'' (Malayalam: രമണന്‍) is the most celebrated work of Malayalam poet Changampuzha Krishna Pillai. It is a play written in the form of verse. It is a pastoral elegy written after the death of his friend, Edappally Raghava ...

'', by

Changampuzha Changampuzha Krishna Pillai (Malayalam: ചങ്ങമ്പുഴ കൃഷ്ണപിള്ള; 10 October 1911 – 17 June 1948) was a celebrated Malayalam poet from Kerala, India, known for his elegy ''Ramanan'' (Malayalam: രമണന ...

is an

elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

based on the life and death of his friend Raghavan Pillai.

likened Pillai to the Italian poet,

. Pillai's body of work comprises ''Sudha'', ''Chillikkashu'', ''Thushara Haaram'' (1935), ''Nava Saurabham'' (1936), ''Hridhaya Smitham'' (1936) and ''Maninaadham'' (1944), the last one considered by many as his best work.

has since been adapted as a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

, into a

Kadhaprasangam Kadhaprasangam (''lyrical narrative'' or ''story telling performance'') is a performing art of Kerala, India. Performance It combines speaking, acting, and singing to present a story. Costumes, make-up, or settings are not used. The main ar ...

Kedamangalam Sadanandan Kedamangalam Sadanandan (1926 – 13 April 2008) was a Kadhaprasangam artist, actor, screenwriter and lyricist from Kerala. He performed Kadhaprasangam (story telling) in more than 15,000 stages for over 50,000 hours in a career spanning about 6 ...

and into a music album. A memorial was built at

Mulamkadakam Mulamkadakam or Mulangadakam/Mulamkadakom is a neighbourhood of Kollam (Quilon) city, India. It is situated at the northern region of the city. Mulamkadakam is the 7th ward of Kollam Municipal Corporation which is in Sakthikulangara zone of the ...

in Kollam, the place where Pillai killed himself.

Farewell poem

Pillai wrote a poem, ''Naalathe Prabhatham'' (Tomorrow's Sunrise), the day before his death and sent it to ''Malayalarajyam'' press with instructions to publish it the next day. ''Maninadam'', The poem he wrote shortly before his death opens as: Changampuzha wrote a short poem, ''The Broken Flute'', mourning the loss of his friend which reads as:

Selected works

*''Thushara Haaram'' (1935) *''Nava Saurabham'' (1936) *''Hridhaya Smitham'' (1936) *''Maninaadham'' (1944) *''Edappally Raghavan Pillayude Krithikal''

References

External links