V. Madhusoodanan Nair is an Indian poet and critic 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 ...

, who is credited with contributions in popularizing poetry through recitation. He is best known for ''Naranathu Bhranthan'', the poem with the most editions in Malayalam literature as well as his music albums featuring recitations of his own poems and poems of other major poets.

Kerala Sahitya Akademi The Kerala Sahitya Akademi or Academy for Malayalam literature is an autonomous body established to promote the Malayalam language and Malayalam literature, literature. It is situated in City of Thrissur, Kerala in India. History The academy ...

honoured him with their annual award for poetry in 1993. He is also a recipient many other honours including

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram Asan Memorial Poetry Prize or Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram is a literary award instituted in 1985 by Madras-based Asan Memorial Association in memory of Malayalam poet Kumaran Asan. It is given annually to honour outstanding poets in Malay ...

Padmaprabha Literary Award Padmaprabha Literary Award for contributions to the field of Malayalam literature is instituted by the Padmaprabha Foundation. A prestigious literary prize in Malayalam, the award was instituted in memory of freedom fighter and socialist Padmaprab ...

, Kunju Pillai Award, R. G. Mangalom Award, Souparnikatheeram Prathibhapuraskaram and Janmashtami Puraskaram.

Biography

V. Madhusoodanan Nair was born on February 25, 1949 at Aruviyodu, a small

riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

village near

Neyyattinkara Neyyattinkara, is a Municipal Town and a major industrial and commercial hub located at the southern tip of Thiruvananthapuram metropolitan area in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala State, and also the headquarters of Neyyattinkara Taluk. The ...

, in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, the capital 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 N. K. Velayudhan Pillai and Gourikutty Amma. He imbibed quite early the tradition of many a ritualistic song from his father, who was a reciter of Thottam Pattu. His early schooling was at the local schools in Neyyattinkara and Kotturkonam after which he passed a pre-degree course from

Velu Thampi Memorial Nair Service Society College Velu Thampi Memorial Nair Service Society College is a general degree college in Dhanuvachapuram, Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala. It was established in 1964. The college is affiliated with Kerala University University of Kerala, form ...

. Subsequently, he graduated from

Mahatma Gandhi College Mahatma Gandhi College is a college in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It was founded by to Mannathu Padmanabhan, the founder of the Nair Service Society. The college is affiliated to Kerala University and is managed by Nair Service Society. ...

and earned a master's degree from the

University College Thiruvananthapuram University College, Thiruvananthapuram (UCT) is a constituent college of the University of Kerala, based primarily in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. The college was awarded 23rd rank by National Institutional Ran ...

. He started his career as a journalist, working at ''Kumkumam'' magazine and Veekshanam daily and also as a program announcer at the Thiruvananthapuram station of the

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

before working as a sub-editor at

Kerala Bhasha Institute The Kerala Bhasha Institute is an academic publishing house in India that was established on 11 March 1968 as a part of the fourth five-year plan. Twelve years later, on 1 November 1980, a regional center was set up in Kozhikode. It is located ...

. Later, he shifted to academics by joining St. Xavier's College, Thiruvananthapuram as a faculty from where he superannuated from service as the Professor and Head of the Department of Malayalam. Madhusoodanan Nair is married to S. Malathi Devi and the couple has two daughters, Rashmi and Ramya and a son, Vishnu. The family lives in Devaswom Board Junction, Thiruvananthapuram.

Legacy

Madhusoodanan Nair started writing poems while at school and the first of his poems was published in the 1980s; his first poem anthology, ''Naranathu Bhranthan'' was published in 1992. The book is reported to be the most popular poetry anthology ever in Malayalam literature, with over 40 editions, surpassing the second most printed book,

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 Raghavan ...

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 ...

, which had 18 editions as of 2016. He is known to be conversant with several languages including Malayalam, English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Tamil. Besides poems, he has published five non-fiction books including ''Eliotum Richardsum'', a critical study, ''Science Nikhantu'', a lexicon and ''Nadodi Vignanam'', a book on the folklore of Kerala. He has written the lyrics for three Malayalam films viz. ''

Santhanagopalam ''Santhanagopalam'' is a 1994 Malayalam film, starring Thilakan, Jagadheesh, Balachandra Menon, and Kaviyoor Ponnamma in the lead roles. Thilakan won the 1994 Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his roles in ''Gamanam'' and this film. It ...

'', ''

Kulam Filipino witches are the users of black magic and related practices from the Philippines. They include a variety of different kinds of people with differing occupations and cultural connotations which depend on the ethnic group they are associat ...

'' and ''

Ardhanaari ''Ardhanaari'' (2012) is a Malayalam film about the life of transgender people in Kerala. The film is directed by Santhosh Souparnika and produced by M. G. Sreekumar under his production house MG Sound & Frames. Manjula ( Manoj K. Jayan), is ...

'' while his poems have been used in films such as ''

Daivathinte Vikrithikal ''Daivathinte Vikrithikal'' () is a 1992 Malayalam-language film co-written and directed by Lenin Rajendran based on M. Mukundan's novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Alphonso, a man who chooses to suffer a slow, torturous lif ...

'', '' Punyam'', ''

Punarjani ''Punarjani'' () is a 2003 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Major Ravi and Rajesh Amanakara, and starring Pranav Mohanlal. The film was produced by P. L. Thenappan under the production house Sri Rajlakshmi Films. ...

'' and ''

Veettilekkulla Vazhi ''Veettilekkulla Vazhi'' () is a 2010 Indian Malayalam adventure drama film written and directed by Dr. Biju. The film is about terrorist organizations operating in India and how they recruit young Keralites. It stars Prithviraj, Indrajith an ...

''. He also wrote lyrics for Tharangini and Manorama Music.

Awards and honours

Madhusoodanan Nair received the Kunju Pillai Award for Poetry in 1986, followed by the K. Balakrishnan Award in 1990.

selected his debut anthology, ''Naranathu Bhranthan'', for their annual award for poetry in 1993. A decade later, he was awarded the 2003

, the same year as he received two more awards viz. R. G. Mangalom Award and the Souparnikatheeram Prathibhapuraskaram. In 2015 he received the

Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan Award This is a list of literary awards given for Malayalam–language. ---- Jnanapeetam Award (Jnanpith) Jnanpith Award, India's most prestigious literary honour, was won by the following Malayalam authors. Other major awards and their winners a ...

"മധുസൂദനൻ നായർക്ക് കടമ്മനിട്ട പുരസ്കാരം"
''Malayala Manorama''. March 10, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2020. and Janmashtami Puraskaram and a year later, he was awarded the

in 2016.

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

selected his work, ''Achan Piranna Veedu'' for their annual award in 2019.

Bibliography

Poetry

* * * ''Bharatheeyam '' * * ''Agasthyahridayam'' * * ''Ganga'' * * ''Megangale Keezhadanguvin'' * ''Marubhoomiyile Kinar'' * '' Pongala'' * ''Nataraja Smriti'' * ''Sakshi'' * * * *

Non-fiction

* ''Eliotum Richardsum'' (Criticism)

* ''Asia Kanmunpil'' (Sociological study)

* ''Science Nikhantu'' (Lexical study)

* ''Nadodi Vignanam'' (Folklore of Kerala) (Kerala Vignanakosam) * ''Budhivikasam'' (Special education) Kanmani Publishers

Filmography

* ''

'' * ''

'' * '' Punyam'' * ''