Thakazhi Sivasankara

Pillai

Thakazhi Sivasankara

Pillai (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 (Prawns, 1956; film adaptation, 1965). He was awarded India's highest literary award,

the Jnanpith in 1984Born 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 (1889–1960) 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 (Two 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 (Prawns, 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, matriliny and bonded labor gave way to conjugal life, everyone’s access to a piece of land, decolonizatio

n 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.

NovelsThottiyude 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)

Short storiesTheranjetuttha 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.

AutobiographiesEnte 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)