(17 April 1912 -

10 April 1999) was

a novelist and short
story writer
of Malayalam language,
spoken in Kerala
state, South India. He is
popularly known
as Thakazhi, after his
place of birth. He
focused on the
oppressed classes as the
subject of his works,
which are known for
their attention to historic
detail. He has written
several novels and over
600 short stories. His
most famous works
areKayar (Coir, 1978)
and Chemmeen (Prawn
s, 1956; film adaptation,
1965). He was awarded
India's highest literary
award, the Jnanpith in
1984
Born in the village of
Thakazhi,
in Kuttanad, Alappuzha
district of Kerala, he
started to write stories
when he was a
schoolboy. His literary
taste was nurtured by his
high school
headmasterKainikkara
Kumara Pillai (1900
1988) who exposed him
to Indian literature. He
met Kesari A
Balakrishna Pillai
(18891960) while
pursuing his law studies
in Thiruvananthapuram.
He introduced
Thakazhi to modern
European literature and
thought.
His novels and short
stories basically
discussed various
aspects of societies in
Kerala in the mid-20th
century. His
novel Thottiyude
Makan (Scavenger's
Son, 1947) is considered
a pioneer work in
Malayalam realistic
novel. It is about
modernity challenging
the rationale of the caste
system, that one's
profession should
depend on pedigree.
His political
novel, Randidangazhi (T
wo Measures, 1948)
projected the evils of the
feudal system that
prevailed in Kerala then,
especially in Kuttanad.
The film adaptation,
directed and produced
by P.
Subramaniam from a
screenplay by Thakazhi
himself, received a
certificate of merit at
the National Film
Awards in 1958 His love
epic Chemmeen (Prawn
s, 1956) which was a
departure from his
earlier line of realism,
met with immense
popularity. It told a
tragic love story set in
the backdrop of a
fishing village
in Alappuzha. The
novel and its film
adaptataion, also
titled Chemmeen (1965)
earned him national and
international
fame. Chemmeen was
translated into 19 world
languages and adapted
as film in 15 countries.
Chemmeen won for
Thakazhi the Kendra
Sahitya Academy
Award in 1958. The
film adaptation, directed
by Ramu Kariat won
the National Film
Award for Best Film in
1965. Despite the
populairy of
Chemmeen, his
novel Kayar (Coir,
1978) is quite widely
considered as
his masterpiece. The
novel spreads to over
1000 densely printed
pages and deals with
hundreds of characters
over four generations,
bring back to life an
axial period (1885
1971) during
which feudalism, matrili
ny and bonded
labor gave way
to conjugal life,
everyones access to a
piece of
land, decolonization and
the industrial
revolution of the 1960s.
Thakazhi has been
known to often write an
entire novel within
one weekend. Its argued
that the
novel Chemmeen was
written within one
weekend.


Thottiyude
Makan (Scavenger's
Son, 1947; translation
into English, New Delhi,
1975)
Randidangazhi (Two
Measures, 1948; film
adaptation, 1958)
Thentivargam (The
Beggar Clan, 1950)
Chemmeen (Prawns,
1956; film adaptation,
1965; transl. into
English, London, 1962,
into French, Paris, 1965,
etc.)
Auseppinre
makkal (The Children
of Ouseph, 1959; transl.
into English, New Delhi,
1984)
Enippadikal (Footsteps,
1964; transl. into
English sub tit. Rungs of
the Ladder, New Delhi,
1976)
Anubhavangal
Palichakal (Experiences
and Failures, 1967; film
adaptation, 1971)
Kayar (Coir, 1978;
transl. into English, New
Delhi, 1997)
Theranjetuttha
Kathakal (Selected
Short Stories, 1965)
Inguilab (1952)
Pathivratha (Chaste
Wife, 1946)
Njaan Piranna
Natu (The Land Where
I was Born, 1958)
Kure
Kathapaathrangal (A
number of Characters,
1980)
See the anthology by
K.M. George ed. The
Best of Thakazhi
Sivasankara Pillai, New
Delhi, 1999, including
English translations of
In the Flood; The
Tahsildar's Father;
Under the Mango
Tree;A Faithful Wife;
The Soldier; An
Orphan's Burial; The
White Baby; The story
of Kalyani; From
Karachi; Death of
Gandhiji; The
Boundary Dispute; the
Farmer; The Story of
Kettuthali; The
Handbag.

Ente Balykala
Katha (My Childhood
Story, 1967)
Ormayude Theerangalil
(On the Shores of
Memory, 1985)
Oru Kuttanaatan Katha
(A Story of Kuttanad,
1992)
Jeevithathinte Oru
Edu (A Page of Life,
1993)