Draft:P. K. Narayana Pillai (born 1910)

Puthillathu Krishna Narayana Pillai was a literary critic and poet of Sanskrit and Malayalam literature, 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.

Youth and education
Pillai was born in Thiruvalla, Kerala, on 25 December 1910, to Sri T. Goda Varma of Paliyakkara Palace and Smt. Lakshmi Amma.

He received his M.A. in Sanskrit in 1935 and his M.A. in Malayalam in 1936 from University of Madras, and his Ph.D. in Sanskrit in 1944 from the University of Mumbai. Sanskrit scholars V.M. Apte and Vishnu Sitaram Sukthankar were his teachers. His thesis focused on mantras in marriage ceremonies not in the Rigveda tradition.

Career
He was curator of the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library (then the Manuscripts Library of Thiruvananthapuram); it is one of the largest manuscripts collections and leading centers of Indology in India and holds substantial collections of 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 contributed in the establishment of the Ulloor Memorial Library, in honor of the Malayalam poet Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, in Jagathy, Thiruvananthapuram.

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, and was Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies. In the final 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 then as Special Officer for the Sanskrit University at Kalady, Kerala, from 1985-87. Due in large part to his efforts, the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in Kalady was established in 1993.

Personal life
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. Pillai passed away on March 20, 1990; he was preceded in death by his wife in September 1989.

Poetry and translation
Pillai is the author of the Sanskrit mahakavya Vishvabhānu, which won the 1982 Sanskrit Sahitya Akademi award, and the translator of Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran's Mayuraduta.

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".

Pillai wrote Dharmasāgara, a Sanskrit poem on the life of Ramakrishna.

Scholarship
Pillai also authored scholarly monographs, including on the Malayalam devotional poet, Ezhuttachan and the classical Sanskrit poet, Kālidāsa. 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. Leelavathy. His Kairalee Dhwany as a study of Dhwany siddhantas, in Malayalam literature.

J. Gonda discusses the significance of Pillai's non-Rgvedic mantras in marriage ceremonies (in the context of V.S. Apte's "Rigveda mantras in their ritual setting in the grhyasutras" ) in the Indo-Iranian Journal.

List of Works
Pillai, P.K. Narayana, Dharmasagarah: or The Spritual Sea : A Poem on Sri Ramakrsna Paramahamsa with an English Translation. 2022. Thiruvananthapuram: Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama.

Narayana Pillai, P. K. Kerala Varma. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1988.

Pillai, P.K. Narayana. Kēralavarmma. Mayūradūtam or the Peacock Messenger: With an English Translation. Trivandrum: P.K. Narayana Pillai, 1984.

Narayana Pillai, P. K. Viśvabhānuḥ; or The Universal Light : A Poem on Swami Vivekananda with an English Translation. Trivandrum: Narayana Pillai, 1980.

P. K Narayana Pillai. 1977. Kairaḷīdhvani. 1st ed. Kōṭṭayaṃ: Vidyārtthimitr̲aṃ Bukkuḍippō.

Narayana Pillai P. K. 1970. Pratibhānam; a Collection of Research Papers Presented to Dr. P.k. Narayana Pillai Professor of Malayalam and Dean Faculty of Oriental Studies University of Kerala ... on His Sixtieth Birthday 23rd December 1970. Trivandrum: Dr. P.K. Shashtipoorthi Committee; copies can be had from: Kerala University Co-operative Stores.

P. K Narayana Pillai and El̲uttaccan El̲uttaccan. 1984. Harināmakīrttanaṃ. Kōl̲ikkōṭ: Mātr̥b

P. K Narayana Pillai and El E Ravivarmma. A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Curator’s Office Library Trivandrum. Trivandrum: Printed at the V.V. Press Branch.

Narayana Pillai P. K. 1974. Kālidāsa : An Assessment by Ānandavardhana. Hoshiarpur: Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute.

Narayana Pillai P. K. 1971. Pr̲ācīnamalayāḷa Gadyamātrkakaḷ Ranṭạ̄mpatipp ed. Tiruvanantapuraṃ: pr̲asiddhīkaranạvakuppȧ Kēraḷasarvvakalāśāla.

Narayana Pillai P. K. 1970. Pr̲abhātasāhiti.

Narayana Pillai P. K. 1969. Saṃskārakautukaṃ. S. l. Kōṭṭayaṃ: Nārāyaṇapiḷḷa : vitaraṇaṃ Nāṣanal Bukkst̲t̲āḷ.

Narayana Pillai P. K. 1968. Āśānr̲e Hr̥dayaṃ. Trichur: Bharathiya Sahitya Samithi.

P. K Narayana Pillai and Ezuthachan. 1967. Cintāratnaṃ. Trivandrum: P.K. Narayana Pillai.

Narayana Pillai P. K. 1958. Non-Rgvedic Mantras in the Marriage Ceremonies.

P. K Narayana Pillai. 1951. Seṣasamuccaya : With Vimarśini of Sankara. Trivandrum: University of Travancore.

P. K. Narayana Pillai. 1949. Introduction to Jānāśrayī Chandoviciti. Trivandrum: University MSS. Library.

Sastri, Anantakrishma, P.K. Narayana Pillai. Aitereya Brahmana: with the vrtii Sukhaprada of Sagurusisya. Trivandrum: University of Travancore, 1942-55.

Nārāyaṇa Piḷḷai P. K, L. A Ravi Varmā, K Sāmbaśiva Śāstrī, and K Śāstrī. Veda Śrauta Smṛti and Puraṇa. Trivandrum: V.V. Press Branch, 1937.