Thirunalloor Karunakaran | |
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Thirunalloor Karunakaran
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Born |
Kollam, Kerala, India |
8 October 1924
Died | 5 July 2006 Kollam, Kerala, India |
(aged 81)
Occupation | Poet |
Nationality | India |
Thirunalloor Karunakaran (8 October 1924 – 5 July 2006) was a renowned poet, scholar, teacher and leftist intellectual of Kerala, India.
Thirunalloor (variously spelt in English as Thirunelloor, Thirunellur and Thirunallur) Karunakaran – 'Thirunalloor', his family name, and 'Karunakaran', his given name – was born in the village of Perinad in Kollam (Quilon) district in Kerala to P.K.Padmanabhan and N.Lakshmy. He started learning Sanskrit in the traditional way before joining primary school and was associated with the working class political movement early in his life.He published his first book-the Malayalam translation of a poem by Oliver Goldsmith- while in school. During student days he wrote several poems, lyrics and articles in periodicals and made his mark during the Pink Decade in Malayalam poetry.By the time of his joining college his close contacts with Communist leaders like R.Sugathan and M. N. Govindan Nair had made him a staunch sympathiser of the Communist party.
After taking his BA degree in History from S N College, Kollam, he worked as a tutor there for a brief stint. Soon he joined University college Trivandrum for post graduate studies in Malayalam where he did some advanced study of Kerala history under Prof. Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, famous historian and scholar who was a major influence in his intellectual life. After taking his MA in Malayalam he joined the government service as college lecturer and taught at Government Arts College and University College. He served as a member of the Kerala Public Service Commission for 6 years. Later he worked as the editor of Janayugam, a weekly cultural magazine of the Communist Party of India. In 1973 he visited the Soviet Union as a member of the delegation of Indian writers who participated in the Afro-Asian Writers Conference held in Kazakhstan.