Edappally Raghavan Pillai

• Name — Edappally Raghavan Pillai • Born — 30 May 1909 • Birthplace — Edapally, Kingdom of Cochin, British India • Died — 4 July 1936 • Place of death — Kollam, Kerala, India • Occupation — Poet, writer • Notable Works — * Maninadam • Thushara Haram • Hrudaya Smitham • Relatives — * Pavathu Neelakanda Pillai (father) • Kalyani Amma (mother)

• Illustration — St. Albert's High School, Pillai's alma mater 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. Pillai moved to Thiruvananthapuram where he stayed with a friend by name M. Balakrishnan Nair and worked at various establishments viz. Bhashabhivardhini Book Depot, Sreemathi weekly and Kerala Kesari magazine as well as at a local grocery shop as their accountant. He also tried unsuccessfully to pass Vidwan examination. When Kerala Kesari was closed down, he moved to Kollam where he was accommodated by V. M. Narayana Pillai, a known lawyer and a relative of the girl he loved. It was here he learned about the marriage of the girl when the lawyer received her wedding invitation. On 4 July 1936, when the lawyer was away from home to attend the girl's wedding, Pillai, aged 27, bathed himself clean and wore a jasmine garland before killing himself. His body was found the next morning, hanging from a tree.

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. Maninadam, The poem he wrote shortly before his death opens as: The bell tolls; It is the sweet knell Of the day of the death; I am coming; Let me say my farewell words To the friends who come to see me off. Changampuzha wrote a short poem, The Broken Flute, mourning the loss of his friend which reads as: O blessed nightingale You have vanished with your scourging despair Your songs of melancholy sweetness Alas! will not be heard again Were we not like two chirping little birds singing in tuneful harmony? Where have you gone leaving me all alone?

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