Edappally Raghavan Pillai

Edappally Raghavan Pillai (30 May 1909 – 4 July 1936) was an Indian poet of Malayalam literature and a close associate of Changampuzha Krishna Pillai. The pair, the front-runners of romanticism in Malayalam, was considered by many as the Shelley and Keats combination of Malayalam poetry. Kesari Balakrishna Pillai compared Pillai to the Italian poet, Giacomo Leopardi.

Biography

Raghavan Pillai was born on 30 May 1909, at Elamakkara, near Edapally in Ernakulam district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Pavathu Neelakanda Pillai and Kalyani Amma, in a family with limited financial means. His mother died when he was young and his father, who was an alcoholic, remarried; he could not get along well with his step mother. His early schooling was at a local school in Ponekkara after which he completed middle school from the English School in Edapally Chuttupadukara before completing his high school education from a school in Cheranellore and later at St. Albert's HSS, Ernakulam; he passed the 10th standard examination only on the second attempt. During this period, he worked as a private tuition teacher and he fell in love with one of his students who came from a rich family in Edapally. The girl's parents discover it and forced him to leave Edapally. His body was found the next morning, hanging from a tree.

Legacy Raghavan Pillai was a close friend of Changampuzha Krishna Pillai and the friends were referred to as Edapally poets or as the twins of Edapally. Both the poets were exponents of romantic poetry which earned them the epithet, Shelley and Keats combination of Malayalam poetry. It is believed that the pastoral play, Ramanan, by Changampuzha is an elegy based on the life and death of his friend Raghavan Pillai. Pillai's body of work comprises Sudha, Chillikkashu, Thushara Haaram (1935), Nava Saurabham (1936), Hridhaya Smitham (1936) and Maninaadham (1944), the last one considered by many as his best work. Ramanan has since been adapted as a feature film, into a Kadhaprasangam by Kedamangalam Sadanandan and into a music album.

Farewell poem Pillai wrote a poem, Naalathe Prabhatham (Tomorrow's Sunrise), the day before his death and sent it to Malayalarajyam press with instructions to publish it the next day.

Changampuzha wrote a short poem, The Broken Flute, mourning the loss of his friend which reads as:

Selected works Thushara Haaram (1935) Nava Saurabham (1936) Hridhaya Smitham (1936) Maninaadham (1944) Edappally Raghavan Pillayude Krithikal