{{Short description|Indian scholar, journalist, philosopher (1900–1971)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai | image = | native_name = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1900|8|1}} | birth_place = Kuttipuzha, Paravur, Ernakulam, Kerala, India | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1971|2|11|1900|8|1}} | death_place = Angamali, Ernakulam, Kerala | restingplace = | restingplacecoordinates = | othername = | occupation = Critic, scholar, journalist | alma mater = {{ublist|||}} | spouse = | domesticpartner = | children = | parents = {{ublist|Sankaran Nambuthiri|Devaki Amma}} | notable_works = {{ubl|''Granthavalokanam''|''Sahitheeyam''|''Vicharaviplavam''|''Vimarsanavum Veekshanavum''}} | website = | awards = Soviet Land Nehru Award }} '''Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai''' (1 August 1900 – 11 February 1971), was an Indian scholar, journalist, philosopher, atheist and critic of Malayalam language. Counted among the prominent literary critics of the language, he wrote a number of books covering the genres of literary criticism and philosophy. He presided over the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, chaired the advisory board of the Kerala Bhasha Institute as an ex-officio member and was a recipient of the Soviet Land Nehru Award.
== Biography == thumb|left|U. C. College Aluva Krishna Pillai added the moniker Kuttipuzha to his name after the village in Paravur in Ernakulam district of the south Indian state of Kerala where he was born on 1 August 1900 to Oorumanakkal Sankaran Nambuthiri and Kurungattuveettil Devaki Amma.<ref name="Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/KuttipuzhaKrishnaPillai/Html/Kuttipuzhagraphy.htm |title=Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |date=2019-04-22 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |access-date=2019-04-22}}</ref> His schooling was at Ayiroor Primary School and St. Mary's High School, Aluva and after passing the school final examination in 1921, he joined the Alwaye Advaita Ashram school the next year. He stayed at the school until 1928 during which time he resumed his studies to pass the vidwan examination of the University of Madras to join the Union Christian College, Aluva as a faculty at the department of Malayalam, without interrupting his own studies to pass the degree of BOL in 1940. Before his superannuation from service as a professor in 1961, he sat in the senate of the University of Kerala in 1958.<ref name="Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal" />
Krishna Pillai, who remained a bachelor throughout his life, served as the president of the kerala Sahitya Akademi during 1968–71and was an ex-officio member of the advisory council of the Kerala Bhasha Institute.<ref name="Kerala Bhasha Institute - History">{{Cite web |url=https://www.keralabhashainstitute.org/%E0%B4%9A%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%82 |title=Kerala Bhasha Institute - History |date=2019-04-22 |website=Kerala Bhasha Institute |access-date=2019-04-22 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He also held several noted positions such as those of the convener of the text book committee and the director of the Children's literature workshop. It was during a function in Aluva on the last day of 1970, he fell unconscious and was taken to a hospital in Angamali where he died on 11 February 1971, at the age of 70.<ref name="Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal" />
== Legacy and honours == Krishna Pillai was known to have been among the writers who led Malayalam literature forward from the narrative prose of earlier writers such as Kottarathil Sankunni.<ref name="Birth Anniversary Celebrations">{{Cite web |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2015/apr/05/birth-anniversary-celebrations-738231.html |title=Birth Anniversary Celebrations |website=The New Indian Express |date=5 April 2015 |access-date=2019-04-22}}</ref><ref name="Datta1988">{{cite book|author=Amaresh Datta|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&pg=PA1226|year=1988|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1194-0|pages=1226–}}</ref><ref name="Raveendran2002">{{cite book|author=P. P. Raveendran|title=Joseph Mundasseri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mU7zHtik0ZoC&pg=PA25|year=2002|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1535-1|pages=25–}}</ref> He was a scholar of western and oriental philosophy and his book on philosophy, ''Vichara Viplavam'' was considered by many as an influential philosophical text.<ref name="Remembering a legendary writer">{{Cite web |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/remembering-a-legendary-writer/article24585815.ece |title=Remembering a legendary writer |date=2018-08-03 |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |access-date=2019-04-22}}</ref><ref name="Sivasankari2017">{{cite book|author=Sivasankari|title=Knit India Through Literature Volume 1 - The South|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPiKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT168|date=5 March 2017|publisher=Pustaka Digital Media|pages=168–|id=PKEY:6580101802203}}</ref> He was an atheist and he introduced different philosophical schools to Malayalam language through his works.<ref name="George1992">{{cite book|author=K. M. George|title=Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Surveys and poems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1R2Pa3f7r0C&pg=PA251|year=1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-7201-324-0|pages=251–}}</ref> His oeuvre comprises 19 books, which include ''Kuttipuzhayude Prabandangal - Thatwachitha'', ''Kuttipuzhayude Prabandangal - Sahityavimarsham'' and ''Kuttipuzhayude Prabandangal - Nireekshanam'', all the three published by Kerala Sahtya Akademi.<ref name="List of works">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/KuttipuzhaKrishnaPillai/Html/Kuttipuzhabooks.htm |title=List of works |date=2019-04-22 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi |access-date=2019-04-22}}</ref> Changampuzha Krishna Pillai was among the writers who were impressed by his scholarship and the poet dedicated one of his poems, ''Yavanika'' to Krishna Pillai.<ref name="Guptannāyar2001">{{cite book|author=Es Guptannāyar|title=Changampuzha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pOGaL2CIquEC&pg=PA17|year=2001|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1292-3|pages=17–}}</ref>
Krishna Pillai was a recipient of Soviet Land Nehru Award.<ref name="Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal" /> The Union Christian College where he spent most of his career, have instituted an annual scholarship, ''Prof. Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai Memorial Endowment Scholarship'' and an annual award, ''Prof. Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai Memorial Prize'', in his honour.<ref name="Prof. Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai Memorial Endowment Scholarship">{{Cite web |url=http://malayalam.uccollege.edu.in/scholarships/ |title=Prof. Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai Memorial Endowment Scholarship |date=2019-04-22 |website=UC College Department of Malayalam |access-date=2019-04-22}}</ref>
== Selected bibliography == * {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=212113 |title=Chintha Tharangam |last=Krishna Pillai. Kuttipuzha |date=1960 |publisher=N.B.S |location=Kottayam }}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * {{Cite book |url=http://mgucat.mgu.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=133132&query_desc=au%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kuttipuzha%2520Krishna%2520Pillai |title=Grandhaavalokam |last=Krishna Pillai |first=Kuttipuzha |date=1990 |location=Thrissur, Kerala Sahitya Academy}} * {{Cite book |url=http://mgucat.mgu.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=133762&query_desc=au%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kuttipuzha%2520Krishna%2520Pillai |title=Kuttipuzhayude prabhandangal: saahityavimarsanam |last=Krishna Pillai |first=Kuttipuzha |date=1990 |series=1 |location=Thrissur, Kerala Sahitya Academy}} * {{Cite book |url=http://mgucat.mgu.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=170071&query_desc=au%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kuttipuzha%2520Krishna%2520Pillai |title=Smarana manjari |last=Krishna Pillai |first=Kuttipuzha |location=Thrissur, Current Books |language=Malayalam}}
== See also == {{Div col|colwidth=40em}} * List of Malayalam-language authors by category * List of Malayalam-language authors {{div col end}} {{Portal|India|Literature}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{Cite web |url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/10603/7559 |title=Critical works of Kuttipuzha Krishna Pillai: a study |last=Unnikrishnan |first=K. N. |date=1998 |website=INFLIBNET |language=Malayalam |access-date=2019-04-22}} * {{Cite web |url=https://find.uoc.ac.in/Record/203367 |title=Kuttipuzha Krishnapillai |last=B |first=Nair P. K. |date=1973 |website=find.uoc.ac.in |language=Malayalam |access-date=2019-04-22}}
== External links == * {{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/KuttipuzhaKrishnaPillai/Html/KuttipuzhaKrishnaPillai.htm |title=Portrait commissioned by Kerala Sahitya Akademi |date=2019-04-15 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi |access-date=2019-04-15}} * {{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/KuttipuzhaKrishnaPillai/Html/KuttipuzhaScript.htm |title=Handwriting |date=2019-04-15 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi |access-date=2019-04-15}} * {{cite book|author=Ke. Vi Rāmakr̥ṣṇan|title=N.V. Krishna Warrior|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wl09A6HRO2YC&pg=PA103|year=2000|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-0950-3|pages=103–}} * {{cite book|author=Mervin Shinoj Boas|title=Encounter Between Marxian Philosophy and Theology of Humanisation in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wNPh13UumdsC&pg=PA23|year=2007|publisher=ISPCK|isbn=978-81-7214-984-0|pages=23–}}
{{Malayalam Literature |state=collapsed}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Kuttipuzha Krishna}} Category:Writers from Kerala Category:Malayalam-language writers Category:20th-century Indian essayists Category:20th-century Indian philosophers Category:20th-century Indian scholars Category:20th-century Indian journalists Category:1900 births Category:1971 deaths Category:People from Ernakulam district