https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Pannisseri_Nanu_PillaiPannisseri Nanu Pillai - Revision history2026-08-21T08:11:16ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pannisseri_Nanu_Pillai&diff=248127&oldid=prev->Citation bot: Alter: url. URLs might have been anonymized. Add: archive-date, archive-url. Removed parameters. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Abductive | Category:20th-century Indian poets | via #UCB_Category 1023/10782021-03-29T18:13:07Z<p>Alter: url. URLs might have been anonymized. Add: archive-date, archive-url. Removed parameters. | <a href="https://en.bharatpedia.org/wiki/BP:UCB" class="extiw" title="wp:UCB">Use this bot</a>. <a href="https://en.bharatpedia.org/wiki/BP:DBUG" class="extiw" title="wp:DBUG">Report bugs</a>. | Suggested by Abductive | <a href="/wiki/Category:20th-century_Indian_poets" title="Category:20th-century Indian poets">Category:20th-century Indian poets</a> | via #UCB_Category 1023/1078</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2019}}<br />
{{multiple issues|<br />
{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}<br />
{{Tone|date=July 2009}}<br />
{{Orphan|date=October 2018}}<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Pannisseri Nanu Pillai''' (11 September 1885 – 20 August 1942) was a poet, scholar, ascetic, critic and artist from [[Kerala]], India, who specialised in the classical India genre of dance-drama known as [[Kathakali]].<br />
<br />
== Biography ==<br />
He was born in 1885 to Padmanabha Kurup and Bhavaniamma at Pannissery house, South Maruthoorkulangara village in [[Karunagappalli]] taluk, [[Kollam District]], Kerala.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2020-12-25|title=പന്നിശ്ശേരി നാണുപിള്ള {{!}} കഥകളി.ഇൻഫൊ {{!}} Kathakali.info {{!}} കളിയറിവുകളുടെ തിരമൊഴി {{!}} The internet Kathakali hangout|url=http://www.kathakali.info/ml/%E0%B4%AA%E0%B4%A8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A8%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B6%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B6%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF_%E0%B4%A8%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%A3%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%AA%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%AA%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B3%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B3|access-date=2020-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225085223/http://www.kathakali.info/ml/%E0%B4%AA%E0%B4%A8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A8%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B6%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B6%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF_%E0%B4%A8%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%A3%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%AA%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%AA%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B3%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B3|archive-date=25 December 2020}}</ref> His father died when Pillai was aged eight and his mother when he was eleven, after which he was raised by his brother and his uncle. He was educated in the village primary school and then Kollam High School, until his brother also died. Outside school, he was taught [[Sanskrit]] by [[Karingattil Nanu Asan]] and he also taught himself logic, grammar, poetics and drama. He eventually became a [[polyglot]], with proficiency in languages such as [[Malayalam]], Sanskrit, English, [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Hindi]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Kannada language|Kannada]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], and Arabic.<br />
<br />
In 1913 Pillai became a disciple of [[Neelakanda Teerthapada Swami]] and later he followed [[Chattampi Swami]] and was close to [[Narayana Guru]].<ref name=":0" /> Pillai could attain ‘[[Jnana]] Nishta’ by virtue of his acquiring enlightenment of salvation. He secured the title ‘[[Vidyapanan]]’ after his treatise ''The Objectivity of the Spirit''.<br />
<br />
The mosque was established at Maruthoorkulangara by the initiative of Pillai. He founded a village school, the temple renovation, founding of the Sanskrit School at Puthiyakavu are a few to mention among his social services. The fight for temple entry of the low [[Caste system in India|castes]] and that against the partisan movement of Punnasseri Neelakanta Sharma are testimonial of his progressive turn of mind.<br />
<br />
He married Lakshmikuttyamma and had two children named Srinivasa Kurup and Thankamma.<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
He died on 20 August 1942. [[Mankompu Sivasankara Pillai]] is his disciple. A documentary of his life has been broadcast by [[Kairali TV]].<br />
<br />
== Literary contributions ==<br />
Pillai composed four Kathakali [[aattakatha (performance)|attakathas]] - ''[[Nizhalkuttu]]'', ''[[Bhadrakalivijayam]]'', ''[[Padukapattabhishekam]]'' and ''[[Sankaravijayam]]'' - and succeeded in radically changing and popularising the art form.<ref name=":0" /> ''[[Nizhalkuthu]]'' was enacted in temples and was a daring experiment, with two unheroic rustic characters, the ‘Malayan' and ‘Malayathi’, when convention dictated the use only of mythical characters of heroic dimensions.<br />
<br />
Paduka Pattabhishekam, which tells a story from Ramayana, was one of the subject of Malayalam textbooks and Sanskrit Pancham at school level in the 1940s.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-12-26|title=പന്നിശ്ശേരി നാണുപിള്ളയുടെ പാദുക പട്ടാഭിഷേകം കഥകളി വീണ്ടും അരങ്ങിലെത്തുന്നു {{!}} Karunagappalli|url=https://www.mathrubhumi.com/kollam/news/karunagappalli-1.3036520|access-date=2020-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201226095938/https://www.mathrubhumi.com/kollam/news/karunagappalli-1.3036520|archive-date=26 December 2020}}</ref><br />
<br />
Pillai's ''Bhadrakali Vijayam'' was influenced by ''[[Thottampattu]]'' - an ancient lyrical story told in folk song in [[Bhadrakali]] temples - and the Tamil epic ''[[Silappatikaram]]''. Beyond the scripts for stage performance, he had also mastered [[stagecraft]] and had given training in stage performance for aspirants.<br />
<br />
Pillai and his friend [[Vardhanam Krishna Pillai]] wrote the first Malayalam biography of Neelakanda Theertha Pada Swami, ''The Complex History of Sree Neelakanda Theertha Pada Swami''. He also did the Malayalam translation of the Sanskrit work ''Suryasatakam''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-12-25|title=Oachira Sankarankutty Navodhana narthakan|url=http://www.sankarayanam.org/kathakali%20patanam.html|access-date=2020-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225054527/http://www.sankarayanam.org/kathakali%20patanam.html|archive-date=25 December 2020}}</ref> He also wrote<br />
* ''Markendeyam Prakaranam''<br />
* ''Sooryasatakam'' (translation)<br />
* ''Chitrodayamani Bhashakavyam'' (translation)<br />
* ''Vimarsana Sanchika''<br />
* ''Kathakali Prakaram'', a seminal theoretical text for Kathakali. A. D. Boland referred this book while writing his book named "A guideto Kathakali"<ref name=":0" /><br />
<br />
Besides these there were many books on spiritual topics. He translated Chattampi Swamikal's ''Adibhasha'' from Tamil to Malayalam. His ''Sankara Vijayam'' (1941) records significant events in the life of [[Sankaracharya]], the founder of [[Advaita]] philosophy. As a social reformer, Pillai had close ties with Islam and [[Xian]] theologists.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://mahabharata-resources.org/nizhalkuttu/nizhalkuttu.html "Nizhalkuttu Kathakali in Performance" at mahabharata-resources.org]<br />
* [http://www.narthaki.com/info/articles/art168.html Articles - Nizhalkuthu - C Ambujakshan Nair]<br />
<br />
{{authority control}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Pannisseri Nanu}}<br />
[[Category:1885 births]]<br />
[[Category:1942 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Malayalam poets]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]<br />
[[Category:Indian male poets]]<br />
[[Category:People from Kollam district]]<br />
[[Category:Poets from Kerala]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]</div>->Citation bot