2A02:8108:1240:1B56:A192:4779:3E9:E33D at 12:58, 31 May 2021

2021-05-31T12:58:05Z

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{{short description|Indian poet (1909-1936)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Edappally Raghavan Pillai
| image = EdapalliRaghavanPillai.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|5|30}}
| birth_place = Elamakkara, Edapally, [[Ernakulam, Kerala]], India
| death_date = {{death date and age|1936|7|4|1909|5|30}}
| death_place = [[Kollam, Kerala]], India
| occupation = Poet, writer
| nationality = Indian
| alma_mater =
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = {{ubl|''Maninadam''|''Thushara Haram''|''Hrudaya Smitham''}}
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| relatives = {{ubl|Pavathu Neelakanda Pillai (father)|Kalyani Amma (mother)}}
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards =
}}
'''Edappally Raghavan Pillai''' (30 May 1909 – 4 July 1936) was an Indian poet of [[Malayalam literature]] and a close associate of [[Changampuzha Krishna Pillai]].<ref name="Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Surveys and poems">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1R2Pa3f7r0C&q=edappally+pillai&pg=PA789 |title=Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Surveys and poems |last=George |first=K. M. |publisher=Sāhitya Akādemī |year=1992 |isbn=978-81-7201-324-0 |author-link=K. M. George (writer)}}</ref> The pair, the front-runners of romanticism in Malayalam, was considered by many as the [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]] and [[John Keats|Keats]] combination of [[Malayalam poetry]]. [[Kesari Balakrishna Pillai]] compared Pillai to the Italian poet, [[Giacomo Leopardi]].

== Biography ==
[[File:Gothic Building of St. Albert's HSS.jpg|235px|thumb|St. Albert's High School, Pillai's alma mater]]
Raghavan Pillai was born on May 30, 1909 at Elamakkara, near [[Edapally]] in [[Ernakulam district]] of the south Indian state of [[Kerala]] to Pavathu Neelakanda Pillai and Kalyani Amma, in a family with limited financial means.<ref name="Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/ERaghavanPillai/Html/KRPillaigraphy.htm |title=Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |date=2019-03-04 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> His mother died when he was young and his father, who was an alcoholic, remarried;<ref name="Edappally Raghavan Pillai - Veethi profile">{{Cite web |url=https://www.veethi.com/india-people/edappally_raghavan_pillai-profile-4518-25.htm |title=Edappally Raghavan Pillai - Veethi profile |date=2019-03-04 |website=veethi.com |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> he could not get along well with his step mother.<ref name="Memories of Edappally, poet of love, turn eight decades">{{Cite web |url=https://english.mathrubhumi.com/books/memories/memories-of-edappally-poet-of-love-turn-eight-decades-english-news-1.1182015 |title=Memories of Edappally, poet of love, turn eight decades |date=July 5, 2016 |website=Mathrubhumi |language=en |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> His early schooling was at a local school in Ponekkara after which he completed middle school from the English School in [[Edappally|Edapally Chuttupadukara]] before completing his high school education from a school in [[Cheranellore]] and later at [[St. Albert's HSS, Ernakulam]]; 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 soon came to know about it and forced him to leave Edapally.<ref name="Edappally Raghavan Pillai - Veethi profile" />

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.<ref name="Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal" /> He also tried unsuccessfully to pass Vidwan examination. When ''Kerala Kesari'' was closed down, he moved to [[Kollam]] where he was accommodated by V. M. Narayana Pillai, a known lawyer and a relative of the girl he loved.<ref name="Memories of Edappally, poet of love, turn eight decades" /> It was here he came to know 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 wedding of the girl, Pillai, aged 27, bathed himself clean and wore a jasmine garland before committing suicide.<ref name="Edappally Raghavan Pillai – The poet who foresaw his death">{{Cite web |url=http://mywordsnthoughts.com/myworld/all-about-kerala/edappally-raghavan-pillai-the-poet-who-foresaw-his-death/ |title=Edappally Raghavan Pillai – The poet who foresaw his death |last=Sandy |date=2017-07-04 |website=My Words & Thoughts |language=en-US |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> His body was found the next morning, hanging from a tree.<ref name="Saccidānandan1996">{{cite book|author=Saccidānandan|title=Gestures: An Anthology of South Asian Poetry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSrEUjm674AC&pg=PA134|year=1996|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-0019-7|pages=134–}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Raghavan Pillai was a close friend of [[Changampuzha Krishna Pillai]] and the friends were referred to as ''Edapally poets''<ref name="RAMANAN 1967">{{Cite web |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/RAMANAN-1967/article16369037.ece |title=RAMANAN 1967 |last=Vijayakumar |first=B. |date=2010-04-17 |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> or as the ''twins of Edapally''.<ref name="Guptannāyar2001">{{cite book|author=Es Guptannāyar|title=Changampuzha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pOGaL2CIquEC&pg=PA27|year=2001|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1292-3|pages=27–}}</ref> Both the poets were exponents of [[romantic poetry]]<ref name="Kurup2005">{{cite book|author=O. N. V. Kurup|title=This Ancient Lyre: Selected Poems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6asUUvPUlTgC&pg=PR24|year=2005|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1791-1|pages=24–}}</ref> which earned them the moniker, ''[[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]] and [[John Keats|Keats]] combination of [[Malayalam poetry]]''.<ref name="A History of Indian literature">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&q=edappally+pillai&pg=PA207 |title=A History of Indian literature |last=Das |first=Sisir Kumar |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |year=1995 |isbn=978-81-7201-798-9}}</ref><ref name="Das2005">{{cite book|author=Sisir Kumar Das|title=History of Indian Literature: 1911-1956, struggle for freedom : triumph and tragedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&pg=PA207|year=2005|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-7201-798-9|pages=207–}}</ref> It is believed that the [[pastoral]] play, ''[[Ramanan (play in verse)|Ramanan]]'', by [[Changampuzha Krishna Pillai|Changampuzha]] is an [[elegy]] based on the life and death of his friend Raghavan Pillai.<ref name="Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Surveys and poems" />

[[Kesari Balakrishna Pillai]] likened Pillai to the Italian poet, [[Giacomo Leopardi]].<ref name="Poetry – The Second Generation of Romantics">{{Cite web |url=http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/poetrytheschool.htm |title=Poetry – The Second Generation of Romantics |date=2019-03-04 |website=Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala |access-date=2019-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927043928/http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/poetrytheschool.htm |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref name="List of works">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/ERaghavanPillai/Html/ERaghavanPillaiBooks.htm |title=List of works |date=2019-03-04 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> [[Ramanan (play in verse)|Ramanan]] has since been adapted as a [[Ramanan (film)|feature film]], into a [[Kadhaprasangam]] by [[Kedamangalam Sadanandan]] and into a music album.<ref name="RAMANAN 1967" /> A memorial has been built for the poet by the public at [[Mulamkadakam]] in Kollam, the place where Pillai committed suicide.<ref name="Kollam, a melting pot of traditions, tastes">{{Cite web |url=https://travel.manoramaonline.com/travel/hourglass/2018/06/22/kollam-beaches-places-to-visit.html |title=Kollam, a melting pot of traditions, tastes |date=2019-03-04 |website=OnManorama |language=en |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref>

== 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.<ref name="Edappally Raghavan Pillai - Veethi profile" /> ''Maninadam'', The poem he wrote shortly before his death opens as:<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=PA789|year=1992|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-7201-324-0|pages=789–}}</ref>
{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|lang=ml
|മണിമുഴക്കം! മരണദിനത്തിന്റെ
മണിമുഴക്കം, മധുരം! വരുന്നു ഞാന്‍!
അനുനയിക്കുവാനെത്തുമെന്‍കൂട്ടരോ-
ടരുളീടട്ടെയെന്നന്ത്യയാത്രാമൊഴി

|The bell tolls; It is the sweet knell
Of the day of the death; I am coming;
Let me say my farewell words
To the friends who come to see me off.}}

Changampuzha wrote a short poem, ''The Broken Flute'', mourning the loss of his friend which reads as:<ref name="Guptannāyar2001" />
{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|lang=ml
|നീലക്കുയിലെ, നിരാശ്രയാം നിൻ നീറും മനസ്സുമായ് നീ മറഞ്ഞു
കേൾക്കുകയില്ലിനിമേൽ നിന്റെ നേർത്തുനേർത്തുള്ള കളകളങ്ങൾ
ഇന്നോളമീ മലർത്തോപ്പിൽ നമ്മളൊന്നിച്ചു ചേർന്ന് പറന്നു പാടി
ഇന്നിളമെന്നെ തനിച്ചുവിട്ടിട്ടെങ്ങുനീ അയ്യോ പറന്നൊളിച്ചു?

|O blessed nightingale You have vanished with your scourging despair
Your songs of melancholy sweetness Alas! will not be heard again
Were we not like two chirping little birds singing in tuneful harmony?
Where have you gone leaving me all alone?}}

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

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{reflist|group=Edappally}}

== Further reading ==
*[[S. Guptan Nair|S. Guptannāyar]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pOGaL2CIquEC&pg=PA27&dq=Edappally+Raghavan+Pillai Changampuzha]'', Sahitya Akademi (2001). {{ISBN|81-260-1292-7}}, {{ISBN|978-81-260-1292-3}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/147693 |title=The poetry of Edappally Raghavan Pillai - A Study (full text) |last=Rekshadas D |date=1978 |website=Shodhganga |publisher=University of Kerala |access-date=2019-03-04}}

== External links ==
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/ERaghavanPillai/Html/EdappilliRPillaiPage.htm |title=Portrait commissioned by Kerala Sahitya Akademi |date=2019-03-04 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |access-date=2019-03-04}}

{{Malayalam Literature |state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Edappally Raghavan}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1936 suicides]]
[[Category:Malayalam poets]]
[[Category:Malayalam-language writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Writers from Kochi]]
[[Category:Poets from Kerala]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]

Edappally Raghavan Pillai - Revision history

2A02:8108:1240:1B56:A192:4779:3E9:E33D at 12:58, 31 May 2021