Bodheswaran

Keshava Pillai (born 28 December 1901 – 3 July 1990), better known as Bodheswaran was an Indian independence activist, social reformer and a poet of Malayalam literature. He was known for his nationalistic poems such as Keralaganam and for his involvement in social movements like Vaikom Satyagraha and other related events which led to the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936.

Biography Bodheswaran, né Keshava Pillai, was born on 28 December 1901 in Neyyattinkara, in Travancore (in the present day Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India) to Champayil Veettil Kunjan Pillai and Thazhamangalam Janaki Pillai Amma.Siblings: Kunju Lekshmi Amma, Parameshwara Pillai, Devaki Amma, Krishnan Nair, Saraswathy Amma :

Influenced by the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda from an early age, he left his studies to visit the social and religious reformer Narayana Guru with whom he stayed for about two years. Subsequently, he travelled throughout India and during a visit to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, he assumed the name of Bodheswarananda. It was during these travels, he met several Sannyasins and Indian independence activists; he also had the opportunity to attend the public meetings of Mahatma Gandhi and Motilal Nehru.

Bodheswaran was first married to Smt. Chellamma Amma, in that relation he has a daughter, Smt. Swathanthra Kumari(Settled in UK). Latter he married V. K. Karthiyayini Amma, a professor of Sanskrit in the Government Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram. The couple had three daughters, Hridayakumari, Sugathakumari and Sujatha, all the three being writers. He died on 3 July 1990, at the age of 88. He published six books which, besides poetry anthologies, include a compilation of his speeches. He attempted to write a comprehensive world history covering the period up to World War I but could not complete it. Suprabhatham, a magazine he founded, also had only a short life. Keralaganam, his patriotic song, was declared as the cultural song of Kerala in 2014.