A. R. Pillai

Ayyappan Pillai Raman Pillai (1880–1938), also known as A. Raman Pillai or A. R. Pillai, was an Indian expatriate who worked for India's freedom in Germany, journalist, writer and a book publisher in Göttingen in Germany.

Pillai was born on December 26, 1879 as the only son of Padmanabha Pillai, a Govt. School Inspector, who hailed from the then South Travancore. A. R. Pillai's mother, Narayani Pillai Kaaliyamma Pillai, niece (maternal cousin's daughter) of the famous Easwara Pillai Vicharippukar, was a member of an aristocratic and affluent Hindu (Nair) matriarchal/matrilineal joint family. The family lived in a large complex of buildings known as Punnackal, situated on the western side of Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple inside the Fort, Thiruvananthapuram. The house had been built for Easwara Pillai Vicharippukaar, the celebrated doyen of Kathakali actors of Valia Kottaaram Kathakali Yogam of 19th century Travancore State and Palace manager (Palliyara Vicharippukaar) in the Travancore Palace, by his patron and king, Uthram Thirunaal MarthandaVarma.

Punnackal at the time of A. R. Pillai's birth was still a joint family (Tharavaad) with the eldest male member on the matrilineal side heading the family and taking care of its members and looking after its properties. The joint family had two other branches (sub-Tharavaads), one in Piralakkode, Perunkadavila, a village off Neyyattinkara, and the other at Nadayara, a village off Varkala, with the main branch and the two rural branches having separate Kaaranavans (heads of family).

Raman Pillai had two sisters; his elder sister, named Kaaliyamma Pillai Narayani Pillai alias Gowri Amma, and younger sister, named Kaaliyamma Pillai Lakshmi Pillai alias Kunjulakshmi Amma. As the only male member of his generation in the Punnackal family, Kochuraman, as he was fondly called by his mother, and Ramooppy by his uncles and elder sister, was the darling of the family.

Pillai was a social activist and used to organize many social functions among his community of Nairs in collaboration with literary luminaries like C. V. Raman Pillai and cultural activities involving the city's socio-cultural elite. He took an active part in convening and organizing the first all-Kerala Nair Maha Sammelanam in Thiruvananthapuram. He also became a Member of the [[Royal Asiatic Society] or M.R.A.S.].

Pillai gave up his studies after high school matriculation and took to book-selling as a career; he set up an English bookshop, the first such in Thiruvananthapuram, by the side of the main thoroughfare of the city; he used to import English books of every kind from publishers like Blackies & Co. and Longmans Green & Co., etc. in the UK and also Western musical instruments like Piano, Violin and cello. Having grown up as a socially prominent and notable youth, A. R Pillai (then 24) sought the hand of B. Gouri Amma (then 12). Gouri Amma was born on June 9, 1892 A.D. as the eldest daughter of C. V. Raman Pillai, the greatest Malayalam novelist, pioneer Malayalam dramatist, newspaper journalist/editor and well-known social activist. The wedding ceremony was consecrated according to social rites of the Nair community on August 23, 1904. Four years after his marriage, A. R. Pillai had to close down his bookshop following a tiff with M. Rajaraja Varma, the then Education Secretary of the erstwhile Travancore Government. Varma totally refused to include any of the large number of English books imported by Pillai from England in the list of textbooks prescribed for the schools in the State. Consequently, A. R. Pillai had to face severe financial problems and wind up his business venture.

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