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{{Short description|Indian historian, linguist and academic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai
| image = Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai (south Indian historian) (cropped).jpg
| caption = A portrait of Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai
| birth_name = P. N. Kunjan Pillai
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1904|11|8}}
| birth_place = Elamkulam, [[Travancore]]
| occupation = Historian<br>Academic
| father =
| parents =
| mother =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1973|3|4|1904|11|8}}
| death_place = [[Trivandrum]], [[Kerala]]
| alma_mater = Annamalai University (Undergraduate Degree)
}}

'''Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai''' (8 November 1904 – 4 March 1973), known as '''Elamkulam''', was an Indian historian, linguist and academic from southern [[Kerala]], India.<ref>[http://www.kerala.gov.in/knowkerala/klm.htm Official Website of Kerala Government - Kollam] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426104247/http://kerala.gov.in/knowkerala/klm.htm|date=2009-04-26}}</ref> He was a pioneering scholar of southern Indian history, [[Kerala]] history, in particular. Although only holding academic degrees in [[Sanskrit]] and [[Malayalam]], and having no formal training as a historian, Elamkulam is considered one of the pioneers of modern Kerala historiography.<ref name=":02"/><ref name="thehindu.com2"/>

He was one of the major proponents of the unitary/imperial state model in medieval Kerala history.<ref name=":15" /> The Elamkulam model of a highly centralised "empire" (unitary/Imperial state model) in medieval Kerala is now considered unacceptable by south Indian historians. Majority of Elamkulam's works are written in Malayalam, with a few in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and English.<ref name=":15" />

He was well versed in [[Kannada]], [[Tulu language|Tulu]] and [[Pali]] (language of the Theravada Buddhist canon) also.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralahistory.ac.in/ke_ga2.htm |title=Kerala State Gazetteer |access-date=27 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820010726/http://www.keralahistory.ac.in/ke_ga2.htm |archive-date=20 August 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was also considered one of the top authorities in Vattezhuthu script and Old/Early Malayalam language.<ref name="thehindu.com2"/>

Elamkulam associated himself for some time with [[Mortimer Wheeler]] in the excavation works at [[Harappa]], Chandravally, and [[Brahmagiri archaeological site|Brahmagiri]].<ref name=":02"/> He is also known for informally guiding [[M. G. S. Narayanan]], a research scholar in [[University of Kerala]] in early 1970s.<ref name="universityofcalicut.info">[http://www.universityofcalicut.info/frontier/backs/27profile.htm MGS Narayanan (Profile) University of Calicut] [https://web.archive.org/web/20181103062514/http://www.universityofcalicut.info/frontier/backs/27profile.htm]</ref><ref name="thehindu.com2">''A masterpiece in reprint''. [http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/a-masterpiece-in-reprint/article4916385.ece]. ''The Hindu'' 15 July 2013</ref>

==Life and career==
Born in Elamkulam village in [[Travancore]] to Krishna Kurup and Purackal Nanukutty Amma on 8 November 1904.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kerala Council for Historical Research : Pages - Memorial-Lectures |url=https://www.kchr.ac.in/pages/15/Memorial-Lectures.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=www.kchr.ac.in}}</ref> His family is from present-day [[Thiruvananthapuram|Trivandrum]] and [[Kollam]] districts. Kunjan Pillai had his school education at [[Thiruvananthapuram|Trivandrum]] and [[Kollam|Quilon]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kerala Council for Historical Research : Pages - Memorial-Lectures |url=https://www.kchr.ac.in/pages/15/Memorial-Lectures.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=www.kchr.ac.in}}</ref>

After taking his honours degree in [[Sanskrit]] language from [[Annamalai University]], [[Madras]]. His studies at Madras had a great influence on his life. His views on Kerala's history changed after he returned back from Tamil Nadu.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kerala Council for Historical Research : Pages - Memorial-Lectures |url=https://www.kchr.ac.in/pages/15/Memorial-Lectures.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=www.kchr.ac.in}}</ref>

He started his career as a school teacher and later became lecturer in [[Malayalam]] at Government Arts College, Trivandrum. Elamkulam retired as the Head of the Department of Malayalam, [[University College, Trivandrum]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kerala Council for Historical Research : Pages - Memorial-Lectures |url=https://www.kchr.ac.in/pages/15/Memorial-Lectures.html |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=www.kchr.ac.in}}</ref>

Elamkulam published most his research findings only in his later years.<ref name=":02"/> He published more than 20 books, in Malayalam, including one in Tamil and two in English. Some of his theories regarding early Kerala history have been challenged by later researchers in the light of new evidence.<ref>{{cite book |last=Menon |first= A. Sreedhara|title=Elamkulam Pillai|year=2001|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|isbn=81-260-1080-0 }}</ref><ref>''Elamkulavum Kerala Charithravum'', T.H.P. Chentharassery, Prabhath Book House, Trivandrum</ref><ref>''Elamkulam Smaranika'' (2003), Elamkulam Pillai Smaraka Trust, Kalluvathukkal</ref><ref>''Grandhalokam'' Monthly (February 2005), Kerala State Library Council, Trivandrum</ref>

Pillai died on 4 March 1973. Kanjiracode Valiaveettil Bhargavi Amma was his wife. The couple had five children.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

== Unitary/Imperial state model ==
Elamkulam had studied comprehensively Old/Early Malayalam - Vatteluttu inscriptions from the ninth century CE, and with the help of literary texts, claimed they belonged to a single line of kings ("the Kulasekharas") that ruled Kerala from [[Kodungalloor|Kodungallur]]. He had challenged the very foundations of the then existing [[William Logan (author)|William Logan]]-K. P. Padmanabha Menon construction of Kerala history.<ref name="thehindu.com2"/> He proposed a unitary or imperial state model, emphasising centralised administration, for the Kulasekhara kingdom.<ref name=":2">Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014</ref>

The Elamkulam version of historiography had believed that this "Second Chera Empire", or "Kulasekhara Empire" was a highly centralised kingdom. However, critical research in the late 1960s and early 1970s by offered a major corrective to this. Recently (2002), suggestions pointing to the other extreme, that the king at Kodungallur had only a "ritual sovereignty" and the actual political power rested with "a bold and visible Brahmin oligarchy" has emerged.<ref name=":15" />

The nature of the Kodungallur Chera/Kulasekhara state is an ongoing academic debate. While the Elamkulam model of a highly centralised "empire" is considered not acceptable by south Indian historians, the third model (2002) is yet to be endorsed by them.<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last=Veluthat|first=Kesavan|date=2018-06-01|title=History and historiography in constituting a region: The case of Kerala|journal=Studies in People's History|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|pages=13–31|doi=10.1177/2348448918759852|issn=2348-4489|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Selected works==

===In Malayalam===
*''Unnuneeli Sandesam''
*''Koka Sandesam''
*''Leelathlakam''
*''Chandrolsavam''
*''Unnuneeli Sandesam Charithradrishtiyilkoodi''
*''Nalachritham Attakkatha''
*''Gandhidevan''
*''Keralabhashayude Vikasaparinamangal''
*''Bhashayum Sahityavum Noottandukalil''
*''Sahityamalika''
*''108 Shivalaya Sothram''
*''Sahityacharithrasamgraham''
*''Keralacharithrathile Iruldanja Edukal''
*''Annathe Keralam''
*''Chila Kerala Charithra Prasnangal'' (Part I, II, & III)
*''Janmi samprdayam Keralathil''
*''Keralam Anchum Arum Noottandukalil''
*''Cherasamrajyam Ompathum Pathum Noottandukalil''
*''Samskarathinte Nazhikakkallukal''

===In English===
*''Studies in Kerala History''
*''Some Problems in Kerala History''

===In Tamil===
*''Pandai Keralam''

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Elamkulam}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Malayalam-language writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Kollam]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University College Thiruvananthapuram]]
[[Category:Annamalai University alumni]]
[[Category:Historians of India]]
[[Category:Writers from Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian male essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian essayists]]
[[Category:Historians of Kerala]]
[[Category:Harappa]]

Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai - Revision history

PQRS1 at 19:03, 3 September 2025