Thirunalloor Karunakaran

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Thirunalloor Karunakaran
Thirunalloor Karunakaran
Thirunalloor Karunakaran
Born(1924-10-08)8 October 1924
Kollam, Kerala, India
Died5 July 2006(2006-07-05) (aged 81)
Kollam, Kerala, India
OccupationPoet
NationalityIndian

Thirunalloor Karunakaran (8 October 1924 – 5 July 2006) was a poet, scholar, teacher and leftist intellectual of Kerala, India.[1][2][3][4][5]

Biography

Early life

Thirunalloor (variously spelled in English as Thirunelloor, Thirunellur and Thirunallur) Karunakaran

Quilon) district in Kerala to P. K. Padmanabhan and N. Lakshmy.[citation needed] He started learning Sanskrit in the traditional way before joining primary school and he associated with the working-class political movement early in his life. He published his first book, the Malayalam translation of a poem by Oliver Goldsmith, while in school. He wrote several poems while he was a student, as well as lyrics and articles in various periodicals. He made his mark during the Pink Decade in Malayalam poetry. By the time he began college, his close contacts with Communist leaders like R. Sugathan and M. N. Govindan Nair made him a staunch sympathiser of the Communist Party of India.[6]

Career

After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from S. N. College in Kollam, he worked as a tutor there for a brief period.[

Janayugam, a weekly cultural magazine of the Communist Party of India. In 1973, he visited the Soviet Union as a member of the delegation of Indian writers who participated in the Afro-Asian Writers Conference held in Kazakhstan.[6]

Awards conferred on him include the Asan Award (1984),

Kerala Sahitya Academy Award for lifetime contributions (2000).[6]

Final years

Though he lived in the city of

Quilon. He was buried without any customary religious rites or ceremonies, as he had wished.[7] During his final years, he was engaged in writing a long poem titled 'Seetha' (Sita), reinterpreting the Ramayana
legend.

Painting based on the poem "Rani" by Thirunalloor Karunakaran. Artist:Chirayinkeezhu Sreekantan Nair

[citation needed]

A three-day-long cultural festival called '

Quilon to perpetuate his memory.[8][9]

Writings and philosophy

Having studied Marxism and Indian philosophy in depth, Thirunalloor, worked to combine the best aspects of both; this vision is a central theme in all of his poems. In many of his poems, he depicts the physical and spiritual experience of collective human labour as a creative process of self-assertion and the self-emancipation of mankind. Tharisu nilangalilekku (To the barren fields), Parayudappukar(The Granite crushers), Adyathe Theevandi (The First Train), and Kayamkulam Kayal(Kayamkulam Lake) all bear the stamp of this vision.[10][11]

The

narrative poems that contain diverse characters and complex social situations.[12][13][14]

Several of his works, like lyrics written for various media and art forms like Kadhaprasangam and stageplays, as well as marching songs, articles, and writings in Sanskrit, are yet to be compiled. This includes the Sanskrit translation of Kumaran Asan's Chandala Bhikshuki and studies in Indian aesthetics.[13][15]

Thirunalloor was an atheist, who believed that Indian philosophy is essentially

caste system and the Bhagavad Gita was an open sanction of violence.[16]

Publications

Poetry and plays

Prose

See also

Further reading

Notes

  1. ^ "Thirunalloor" is his family name, and "Karunakaran" is his given name

References

  1. ^ A History of Indian Literature, 1911–1956, Sisir Kumar Das
  2. ^ Kairaliyude Kadha, N. Krishna Pillai, SPCS, Kottayam
  3. Trichur
  4. ^ Sahithya Varaphalam: M. Krishnan Nair.
  5. ^ Mathrubhumi Daily(Editorial, 7 July 2006) ;Calicut
  6. ^ a b c Obituary reports on Thirunalloor Karunakaran published in various news papers on 6 July 2006
  7. ^ -Thirunellur laid to rest
  8. ^ The 2008 and 2009 issues of Abhivaadanam the festival bulletin of Thirunalloor Kavyolsavam
  9. ^ xOZ5Y=&SEO= -Thirunalloor Kavyolsavam from today [permanent dead link]
  10. ^ Grandhalokam Monthly;(April 2002)Kerala State Library council;Trivandrum
  11. ^ Kerala Kaumudi Daily(Editorial, 6 July 2006);Trivandrum
  12. ^ Sahithyalokam Trimonthly; January–March 1985;pp 41–45;Kerala SahithyaAcademy,Thrissur
  13. ^ a b Articles and features on Thirunalloor Karunakaran published in various magazines and journals in July 2006
  14. ^ -An Idealistic Ordeal[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ Bhashaposhini Monthly; May 2004;pp 6–12 Kottayam
  16. ^ PachaMalayalam Monthly; January 2005,pp18-24; Quilon

External links

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