Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri

Akkitham was the recipient of India's highest literary honour, the Jnanpith Award in 2019, and other awards including Padma Shri, Ezhuthachan Award, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry, Odakkuzhal Award, Vallathol Award, Vayalar Award, Aasan Prize and O. He died on 15 October 2020, aged 94, in Thrissur.

• Name — Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri • Pen Name — Akkitham • Born — 18 March 1926 • Birthplace — Kumaranellur, Ponnani taluk,Nowadays Pattambi taluk,Malabar District, Madras Presidency, British India • Died — 15 October 2020 • Place of death — Thrissur, Kerala, India • Occupation — Poet, social worker • Language — Malayalam • Notable Works — * Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam • Balidarshanam • Idinju Polinja Lokam • Relatives — Akkitham Narayanan, brother • Awards — * Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry (1972) • Odakkuzhal Award (1973) • Sahitya Akademi Award (1973) • Aasan Prize (1994) • Lalitambika Sahitya Award (1996) • Vallathol Award (1997) • Ezhuthachan Puraskaram (2008) • Vayalar Award (2012) • Padma Shri (2017) • Jnanpith Award (2019) • O. N. V. Literary Award (2019) • Website — www.akkitham.in

Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri was born on 18 March 1926 at Amettikkara, near Kumaranellur in Palakkad district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Amettu Akkithathu Manayil Vasudevan Namboothiri and Checkur Manaykkal Parvathy Antharjanam. After schooling in Sanskrit, Astrology and Music, he started his college education but did not complete his graduate degree course. He is the first president of Thapasya (group of artists and literary fellows), an organization under RSS.

• Illustration — Akkitham in 2010 Akkitham started his career as an editor of Unni Namboothiri magazine, which he used as a platform for his social activities. He also worked as an assistant editor at Mangalodayam and Yogakshemam magazines. In 1956, he joined the Kozhikode station of the All India Radio (AIR) where he served until 1975 after which he was transferred to the Thrissur station of the AIR. He was also associated with Anaadi, a literary initiative for popularising studies of Vedas. His literary works began to gain wide attention in the early 1950s and Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam (English: "Epic of the 20th Century"), a khandakavya is one of the first truly modernist poems in Malayalam literature, the book also won the Sanjayan Award in 1952. He published approximately 45 books comprising poetry anthologies, plays and short stories. Balidarsanam (English: "The Vision of Bali"), Arangettam, Nimisha Kshetram, Idinju Polinja Lokam, Amritaghatika, and Kalikkottilil are some of his notable poetry anthologies. Upanayanam and Samavarttanam, two collections of essays, feature among the writings in prose. Sree Mahabhagavatham, his translation of Srimad Bhagavatam, composed of 14,613 verses, covers over 2,400 pages. Some of the themes that Akkitham explored in his works included love and compassion. He is acknowledged to have introduced "meaningful modernism" as a central theme in his poetry. Akkitham was involved in social reform activities and through his association with Yogakshema Sabha, he strived to bring in reforms in the lives of the Namboothiri Brahmins of Kerala. He was associated with various centres in Thirunavaya, Kadavallur and Thrissur, for the promotion of vedic studies. He was also associated with the Paliyam Satyagraha, a peaceful protest against untouchability in 1947.

Akkitham was married to Sreedevi Antharjanam and the couple had two sons, Narayanan and Vasudevan, and four daughters Sreeja, Indira, Parvathy and Leela. The family lives in Amettikkara. Antharjanam, died on 13 March 2019, at the age of 85. Noted painter Akkitham Narayanan is his younger brother. Akkitham died on 15 October 2020, at the age of 94 in West Fort Hi-Tech Hospital in Thrissur. His funeral took place with full state honours at his home in Kumaranellur, on the same day.

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• Selected Poems of Akkitham: From God's Own country, translated into English by P.K.N. Panicker, New Delhi, Authors Press, 2018. • The Berry in the Palm (Karatalamalakam), translated into English by Rizio Yohannan Raj, in: The Oxford India Anthology of Modern Malayalam Literature, vol. 1 (Poetry, Drama, Prose), New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 89–93.

* * • Kusidhu Biddha Lokha (2022). Idinju Polinja Lokam: Kavithakal. by Dr. Sushma Shankar, Bangalore

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He also worked under the name Akkitham. The authorities additionally record the heading Akkitham. His recorded language was Malayalam.

Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri is recorded as having received Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and Sahitya Akademi Award in Malayalam.

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