- Comment: Most of the references are self-published, such as "The Universal Light" (ref) where you have changed the author name from this individual to Nair, yet the cited chapter is "About Author". Please do not try to deceive. References with "my esteemed friend" are not independent. Further, you have put claims out of the blue like principal of such college, without any reference. Most of the references are not available to be cross- checked. The website you have cited [1] has no mention of Pillai. Lastly, someone by the same name, similar achievements, same domain, and even listed the same book in his works (The Universal Light) exists at: P. K. Narayana Pillai.You have a COI with the subject. Despite being a PhD, you are not able to demonstrate competence. Please understand. Thanks, Please feel free to ping/mention -- User4edits (T) 14:43, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
- Comment: All sources are Self published or primary sources. Please see the message above, especially -- "published, reliable, secondary sources that are independent of the subject (see the guidelines on the notability of people)". Thanks, Please feel free to ping/mention -- User4edits (T) 18:10, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
- Comment: Please cite proper sources, not indexes in WorldCat. Thanks, Please feel free to ping/mention -- User4edits (T) 09:14, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
P.K. Narayana Pillai was a literary critic and poet of Sanskrit and Malayalam literature,[1][2] As a poet, he was notable for writing mahākāvya, a genre of Indian epic poetry in Sanskrit, and translated important literary works by poets including Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran.
Biography
P.K. Narayana Pillai was born in Thiruvalla, Kerala, on 25 December 1910, to Sri T. Goda Varma of Paliyakkara Palace and Smt. Lakshmi Amma.[3] In 1940, he was married to Smt. J. Kamalamma, daughter of the Dewan Peshkar, Sri N.S. Raman Pillai and Smt. Janaki Amma. They had three daughters.[4]
He received his M.A. in Sanskrit in 1935 and his M.A. in Malayalam in 1936 from University of Madras.[5] He received his Ph.D. in Sanskrit in 1944 from the University of Mumbai.[6] Sanskrit scholars, V.M. Apte and V.S. Sukthankar, were his guides.[7] His thesis focused on non-Rgvedic mantras in marriage ceremonies.[8]
He was Curator of the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library[9] (then the Manuscripts Library of Thiruvananthapuram), one of the largest manuscripts collections and leading centers of Indology in India, which holds substantial collections of extant palm-leaf manuscripts of ancient Sanskrit and Malayalam literature. He was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit in the University College, Thiruvananthapuram in 1952. In 1956 he established the Mahakavi Ulloor Memorial Library in honor of the famed Malayalam poet, Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer in Jagathy, Thiruvananthapuram.[10] In 1957, he was appointed Principal of the Government Sanskrit College. In 1963, he was appointed Professor and Head of the newly created Malayalam Department of the University of Kerala, establishing its foundations. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.[11] In the culminating decades of his life, he sought to establish a Sanskrit University in Kerala, serving as the One-Man Commission for Sanskrit University from 1971-72 and Special Officer for the Sanskrit University at Kalady, Kerala from 1985-87 under the Government of Kerala.[12] Due in large part to his efforts, the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in Kalady (the birthplace of The Hindu sage and exponent of the Advaita tradition in Vedanta, Adi Shankaracharya) was established in 1993.[13]
Pillai passed away on March 20, 1990 preceded by his wife's death in September 1989.[14]
Literary works and scholarship
Poetry and translation
Pillai is the author of the Sanskrit mahakavya Vishvabhānu,[15] which won the 1982 Sanskrit Sahitya Akademi award, and the translator of Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran's Mayuraduta.[16]
Pillai's Vishvabhānu ("Universal Light") was praised by critic K. Kunjunni Raja, in a 1980 article in Indian Literature. In an overview of contemporary Sanskrit literature, Raja wrote that the epic history of Swami Vivekananda's life was "ambitious" and "interesting". He noted that the work had "550 verses divided into 21 cantos, and uses simple metres like Upajati and Anustubh". He also commented that, in contrast to some of the mandates of mahakavya, "narration is given more importance than description and decorative embellishments". Finally, Raja appreciated the language as lucid and correct".[15]
Pillai wrote Dharmasāgara, a Sanskrit poem on the life of Ramakrishna.[17]
Scholarship
Pillai also authored scholarly monographs, including on the Malayalam devotional poet, Ezhuttachan and the classical Sanskrit poet, Kālidāsa.[18] Kairaleedhvani, a book of literary criticism, was called a "rich contribution" in the field of "Indian critical theories and their application to modern works, in a 1980 article in Indian Literature by critic M. Leelavati.[19] His Kairalee Dhwany studies Dhwany siddhantas, in Malayalam literature.[20]
J. Gonda discusses the significance of Pillai's non-Rgvedic mantras in marriage ceremonies in the context of his guide V.S. Apte' "Rigveda mantras in their ritual setting in the grhyasutras" in the Indo-Iranian Journal.[21]
References
- ^ Subramonia Iyer, S. Sanskrit Dramas. India: Sundeep Prakashan, 1984.
- ^ Nampoothiri, Easwaran. Sanskrit Literature of Kerala. Trivandrum: Nindi Punj, 1972.
- ^ Nair, Ramachandran (2022). "About the Author". The Universal Light [The Universal Light]. Thiruvananthapuram: Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama. p. 19.
- ^ Nair, p. 19.
- ^ Nair, p. 19.
- ^ Nair, p. 19.
- ^ Nair, p. 20.
- ^ See Raghavan, V. “Sanskrit Literature.” Indian Literature 3, no. 1 (1959): 95–99. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23333648. "In the field of critical research studies and monographs on Sanskrit subjects as well as editions of Sanskrit texts, individual scholars produced some works which should be mentioned: P.K. Narayana Pillai, Trivandrum, published a thesis on Non-Rgvedic Mantras in Marriage Ceremonies."
- ^ "ORIMSS – Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library". 2023-01-17. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
- ^ Handbook on Cultural Institutions in Kerala. ed. Babu John. India, Department of Culture, Government of Kerala, 2009. p. 46
- ^ Nair, p. 21
- ^ Nair, p. 23
- ^ Nair, p. 23
- ^ Nair, p. 22
- ^ a b Raja, K. Kunjunni (1980). "Sanskrit: Continuing Inspiration". Indian Literature. 23 (6): 130–34. JSTOR 23330267.
- ^ Kunjunni, Raja K. (1985). "The Sanskrit Scene: A Broad Spectrum". Indian Literature. 28 (6): 138–43. JSTOR 24158216.
- ^ Tapsyananda, Swami (1990). "Introduction". Dharmasāgarah: The Spiritual Sea: A Poem on Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in Sanskrit with English Translation. Trivandrum: St. Joseph's Press.
- ^ Chunder, P.C. "Foreword." The Universal Light. Trivandrum: V.V. Research Institute Press, 1990. p. 11-12; Nair, Ramachandran. "About the Author." P.K. Narayana Pillai. The Universal Light. Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, 2022. p. 18.
- ^ M. (1980). "Malayalam: Literature v. Counterfeits". Indian Literature. 23 (6): 16–23. JSTOR 23330255.
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ignored (help) - ^ Tharakan, K. M. (1979). "Malayalam: New Sensibility and the Great Tradition". Indian Literature. 22 (6): 125–44.
- ^ Gonda, J. “Some Notes on the Use of Vedic Mantras in the Ritual Texts of the Vaikhānasas.” Indo-Iranian Journal 14, no. 1/2 (1972): 1–31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24651348.