K. Damodaran ( February 25, 1912 – July 3, 1976) was an Indian Marxist theoretician and writer and one of the leader of the Communist Party of India in

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Early life and education

Damodaran was born in Ponnani in

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of including the surrounding suburban areas. The first municipality in the district formed in 1970, Malappuram serves as the administrative headquarter ...

district, the son of Kizhakkiniyakath Thuppan Nampoothiri and Keezhedathu Narayani Amma. He had his schooling in Government School, Tirur, and college education in Samoothiri College, Calicut. His first socialist activities were associated with being secretary of the student movement 'Kerala Students Movement' and he joined the freedom struggle. He was arrested in 1931 for participating in the

civil disobedience movement The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a ...

and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 23 months. While in Coimbatore jail he learned

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

and

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

. He went to

Kasi KASI (1430 AM, "News Talk 1430") is a radio station licensed to serve Ames, Iowa. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and licensed to iHM Licenses, LLC. It airs a News/Talk radio format. The station was assigned the KASI call letters b ...

(UP) in 1935 to study

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

from the ''Viswa Vidyalaya'' there and passed the Shastri examination. While at Kasi he learned

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and was attracted to Communist ideology.

Political career

Lal Bahadur Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; 2 October 1904 – 11 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of India from 1964 to 1966 and 6th Home Minister of India from 1961 to 1963. He promoted the White Re ...

was his classmate. He was attracted to Communist ideology through his senior Onkar Nadashasthri. Thus he became a Communist – the first 'Malayalee Communist'. He returned to Kerala in 1937 and joined the

Kerala Socialist Party Kerala Socialist Party (KSP) is a political party in India founded under the leadership of Mathai Manjooran on 21 September 1947 at Kozhikode. It began as a small party, but its front-line leaders compelled the party deep into the public imagin ...

and in May the same year formed the Kerala unit of the Communist Party of India. He organized

Coir Coir (), also called coconut fibre, is a natural fibre extracted from the outer husk of coconut and used in products such as floor mats, doormats, brushes, and mattresses. Coir is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell an ...

and

Beedi A beedi (also spelled bidi or biri) is a thin cigarette or mini-cigar filled with tobacco flake and commonly wrapped in a tendu (''Diospyros melanoxylon'') or ''Piliostigma racemosum'' leaf tied with a string or adhesive at one end. It origi ...

workers. He was imprisoned twice and released in 1945. In 1951, he was elected as the

Taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

secretary of the Malabar unit committee of the Communist Party. He contested the assembly election in 1951 and the

Loksabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-th ...

election in 1957. Damodaran was elected to the central executive committee of the party in 1960. He took charge of editing the Navayugam weekly. All through these years he was intellectually active by way of writing articles and books, learning new languages and debating on various forums. He became a

Rajya sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

member (MP) in 1964. He visited many Asian and European countries including almost all of the communist nations. After the tenure, he devoted his time to a comprehensive research on the history of the Party at (JNU) under an ICHR fellowship. He was the first progressive writer in Malayalam. 'pattabakki' was the first political drama to be staged in kerala which, in a way, paved the way for the advancement of communist ideology among the common people. He dwelled deep into Indian Philosophy which was considered solely spiritual until then and discovered new streams of material thoughts in it. His celebrated works 'Bharatheeya Chintha' and 'Indiayude athmavu' speaks volumes of the metamorphosis. he was a multilinguist and could speak for hours on thought provoking subjects. He died on July 3, 1976, in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

at the

Safdarjung Hospital Safdarjung Hospital is a multi-specialty hospital, and the largest central government hospital in India if measured by bed strength. It is associated with Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and located in the heart of New Delhi on the Ring Road, ...

while he was still conducting this research. Damodaran was a multilingual scholar and translated many books from

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

. Apart from ''Pattabaakki'', he wrote another play named ''Rakthapanam''. The stories written between 1934 and 1935 are now a collection known as ''Kannuneer''. In all his works, party popularization was seen. The best known of his works is ''Indiyude Atmavu'' and in English, an excellent exposition of 'Indian Culture' and 'Philosophy from the ancient times'. He completed only first part of ''Kerala History'' based on archeology, anthropology and coin sciences. Political activist and documentary director K. P. Sasi is the son of Damodaran.

Works

In Malayalam

*Jawaharlal Nehru *Eka Vazhi *Kannuneer (short stories) *Karl Marx *Samashtivada Vijnapanam (translation of the '' Communist Manifesto'') *Paattabaakki (play) *Rakthapaanam (play) *Russian viplavam (co-authored with E. M. S. Namboodiripad) *Manushyan *Dhanasasthrapravesika *Uruppika *Nanayaprasnam *Communism Enthu Enthinu ? *Purogamana sahithyam Enthinu? *Communisavum Christhumathavum *Marxism (in 10 parts) *Indiayude Aathmavu *Keralathile Swathanthryasamaram (co-authored with C Narayana pillai) *Dhanasasthra thathwangal *Dharmikamoolyangal *Enthanu saahithyam *Chinayile Viplavam *Keralacharithram *Sahithya niroopanam *Indiayum Socialisavum *Indiayude Sampathikabhivrudhi *Innathe Indiayude Sampathikasthithi *Yesuchristhu Moscowil *SamoohyaParivarthanangal *Socialisavum Communisavum *Panam Muthal Nayapaisa Vare *Indiayile Deseeyaprasthanam(Translated directly from Russian) *Marxisathinte Adisthanathathwangal *Bharatheeyachintha *Sreesankaran Hegel Marx *Oru Indian Communistinte Ormakkurippukal

In English

*Indian Thought *Man and Society in Indian Philosophy *Marx Hegel and Sreesankara *Marx Comes to India (co-authored with P.C.Joshi)

In Hindi

*Bharatheeya chinthaa parampara

References

Notes

Other sources

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Damodaran, K 1912 births 1976 deaths 20th-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian politicians Communist Party of India politicians from Kerala Hindi-language writers Indian Communist writers Indian independence activists from Kerala Indian Marxist historians Indian Marxist writers Indian Sanskrit scholars Journalists from Kerala Malayalam-language writers Malayali politicians Marxist theorists Scholars from Kerala