{{Short description|Indian writer and activist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox writer | name = Cherukad | image = Cherukad.jpg | birth_name = Cherukad Govinda Pisharodi | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1914|08|26}} | birth_place = Chemmalasseri, Perinthalmanna, Madras State, British India | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1976|10|28|1914|08|26}} | occupation = Writer, political activist, teacher | language = Malayalam | nationality = Indian | genre = Play, novel, short story, poetry, essay, autobiography | movement = Progressive literature | notableworks = ''Jeevithappatha'', ''Muthassi'', ''Manninte Maaril'' | awards = Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award }} '''Cherukad Govinda Pisharodi''' (26 August 1914 – 28 October 1976), commonly known as '''Cherukad''', was a Malayalam-language playwright, novelist, poet and political activist, associated with the Communist movement in Kerala state, India.<ref name=Profile>{{Cite web |title=ചെറുകാട് ഗോവിന്ദപ്പിഷാരഡി |trans-title=Cherukad Govinda Pisharodi |language=ml |publisher=Kerala Sahitya Akademi }}</ref>
== Biography == Cherukad was born in Chemmalasseri in Perinthalmanna taluk to Kizheettil Pisharath Karunakara Pisharody and Cherukad Pisharath Narayani Pisharasiar.<ref name="Profile" /> He got elementary training in Sanskrit from Guru Gopalanezhuthachan. After completing high school education, he joined as a teacher in Chemmala Aided Mappila School.<ref name="Profile" /> He passed Vidvan Examination from Madras and worked in many schools as teacher before joining Pattambi Sanskrit College as Lecturer.<ref name="Profile" />
In 1936, Cherukad married Kizheettil Pisharath Lakshmi Pisharasiar.<ref name="Profile" /> Their son K. P. Mohanan is a noted writer.<ref name="Profile" />
Cherukad's politically charged writing was influential in defining the Malayalam literature of the fifties and sixties.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 October 2012 |title=Remembering Mundassery, Cherukad |newspaper=The Hindu |location=Kozhikode, India |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/remembering-mundassery-cherukad/article4033477.ece |access-date= 11 June 2013}}</ref> His political life was connected with the lives of the leading politicians and patriots of Kerala. Cherukad was one of the founding members of the Deshabhimani Study Circle, a progressive literary movement in Kerala and the predecessor of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham.<ref name="Profile" /> Some of his important works are ''Jeevithappatha'', ''Tharavaditham'', ''Manushyabandhangal'', ''Namal Onnu'', ''Manushya Hridayangal'', ''Janmabhumi'', ''Devalokam'', ''Manninte Maril'' (''On the Bosom of the Soil''), ''Muthassi'' and ''Sanidasa''.<ref name="Profile" /> His autobiography ''Jeevithappatha'' (1974) received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975 and Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature |volume=2 |author=Amaresh Datta |year=1988 |page=1846}}</ref>
Cherukad died on 28 October 1976.<ref name="Profile" /> The '''Cherukad Award''' is an annual literary award given in his memory.<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 October 2005 |title=Cherukad Award presented |newspaper=The Hindu |url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/30/stories/2005103008610300.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109005110/http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/30/stories/2005103008610300.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 November 2006 |access-date= 11 June 2013}}</ref>
==Bibliography== ===Novel=== * ''Manninte Maaril'' (Calicut: Prabhatham, 1954) * ''Muthassi'' (Calicut: Kairali Sahakarana Sangham, 1959) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.277887 Read online] * ''Sanidasa'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1959) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.277889 Read online] * ''Pramani'' (Trichur: Current, 1962) * ''Marumakal'' (Cochin: CICC, 1963) * ''Muthassi: Part II'' (Trichur: Current, 1964) * ''Devalokam'' (Trichur: Current, 1971) * ''Bhooprabhu'' (Trivandrum: Sakthi, 1976) * ''Maranapathram'' (Trivandrum: Chintha, 1977)
===Play=== * ''Snehabandhangal'' (Quilon: Prabhatham, 1954, 2nd edition) * ''Tharavaditham'' (Trichur: Mangalodayam, 1954) * ''Swathanthra'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1955) * ''Manushyahridayangal'' (Trichur: Current, 1955) * ''Rakteswari'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1956) * ''Visuddha Nuna'' (Trichur: Current, 1956) * ''Odukkathe Onam'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1956) * ''Janmabhumi'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1958) * ''Mulankoottam'' (Trichur: Current, 1958) * ''Anakkettu'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1958) * ''Kutti Thampuran'' (Trichur: Current, 1958) * ''Kutti Thampuratti'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers) * ''Vaalnakshatram'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1960) * ''Chittu Vilakku'' (Trichur: Current, 1960) * ''Kodumkaattu'' (Palghat: Udaya, 1966) * ''Nammalonnu'' (Trichur: Current, 1969, Revised edition) * ''Adima'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1969, 2nd edition) * ''Doctor Kachan'' (Palghat: Udaya, 1970)
===Poetry=== * ''Aradhana'' (Palghat: Vellinezhi, 1945) * ''Thiramala'' (Palghat: Vellinezhi, 1945) * ''Anthappuram'' (Trichur: Mangalodayam, 1945) * ''Methaapp'' (Trichur: Mangalodayam, 1954) * ''Manushyane Maanikkuka'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1961)
===Short story=== * ''Jeevikkan'' (Calicut: P. M. Mohammed, 1954) * ''Mudra Motiram'' (Calicut: Prabhatham, 1954) * ''Cherukadinte Cherukathakal'' (Trichur: Current, 1954) * ''Theruvinte Kutti'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1956) * ''Chekkuthante Koodu'' (Trichur: Current, 1958) * ''Chuttan Moori'' (Calicut: P. K. Brothers, 1962)
===Children's literature=== * ''Karuppan Kutty'' (Trivandrum: Balan, 1962, 2nd edition) * ''Oru Divasam'' (Trichur: Current, 1960) * ''Thanthra Kurukkan'' (Trichur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1968)
===Autobiography=== * ''Jeevithappatha'' (Pattambi: Sakthi, 1974)
===Miscellaneous=== * ''Menonte Meni'' (Ottappalam: published by the author, 1945) (Ottan Thullal) * ''Society President'' (Calicut: Deshabhimani, 1946) (Ottan Thullal) * ''Vella Chantha'' (Calicut: Marxist Books, 1952) (Ottan Thullal) * ''Onam Varunnu'' (Cochin: Prabhatham, 1955) (Onam songs)
==References== <references />
==External links== * [http://digitalpaper.mathrubhumi.com/c/1926846?fb_comment_id=fbc_482393438542244_2713569_482393541875567#f320dc0a2 Article by C Radhakrishnan] * Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala. Retrieved 11 April 2011. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070524212356/http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/awards.htm] * [http://www.deshabhimani.com/vnews-vaarika-19.html ''Deshabhimani Weekly'' special issue on the birth centenary of Cherukad]
{{Malayalam Literature |state=collapsed}}
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Category:1914 births Category:1976 deaths Category:Indian Marxist writers Category:Indian male short story writers Category:Indian political writers Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights Category:Indian Marxists Category:Poets from Kerala Category:Malayalam-language dramatists and playwrights Category:Malayalam-language novelists Category:Malayalam short story writers Category:Malayalam poets Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Malayalam Category:20th-century Indian novelists Category:20th-century Indian poets Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century Indian short story writers Category:People from Malappuram district Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Kerala Category:Novelists from Kerala Category:Recipients of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award