P. Madhavan Pillai

P. Madhavan Pillai (28 January 1941 – 26 March 2022) was a polyglot, writer and translator from Kerala, India. He translated about 25 After passing MA in Hindi from Thiruvananthapuram University College with first rank, he worked as a teacher in various colleges run by NSS management. He was being treated for cancer. He died at Perunna NSS Medical Mission Hospital in Changanassery. In 1974, when V. S. Khandekar's Marathi novel was awarded the Jnanpeeth, it was Sriram Menon, a teacher who was also a relative, who asked him to translate it into Malayalam.

Madhavan Pillai also translated many noted works from Malayalam to Hindi, including the play 'Bharatavakyam' by poet G. Shankara Kurup, poems by ONV Kurup, Sugathakumari, Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri, D. Vinayachandran and stories by Karoor Neelakanta Pillai, Lalithambika Antharjanam, T. Padmanabhan, N.P. Mohammed etc. Bharat Bhavan Translation Comprehensive Contribution Award and MN Satyarthi Award.

He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for the translation of Mayyadas's 'Maalika' into Malayalam and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for the translation of 'Shilapatmam' and the National Human Rights Commission's Literary Award for the Hindi translation of the book 'Kurunukale Map', a collection of essays on human rights.