Sardar K. M. Panikkar

Sardar K. M. Panikkar Biography

Sardar Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, shortly known as Sardar K. M. Panikkar was an Indian scholar, journalist, historian, administrator and diplomat from old Travancore, Kerala. He was the first president of the Kerala Sahitya Academy and has worked as editor of the ‘Hindustan Times’. He was a lifelong friend of great poet Vallathol Narayana Menon. He was one of the noted Indian essayists during the first half of twentieth century.

K. M. Panikkar was born on June 3, 1895 in the Kingdom of Travancore, Kerala as the son of Puthillathu Parameswaran Namboodiri and Chalayil Kunjikutti Kunjamma. He completed his basic studies at Kottayam and Madras. He went to Oxford University to study history at Christ Church. He travelled to Portugal and Holland to do a research about involvement of these countries with Malabar. Later he published it as books titled - Malabar and the Portuguese (1929) and Malabar and the Dutch (1931). These are the earliest of his historic books based on observations. When he returned back, he worked as a professor in Aligarh Muslim University and University of Calcutta. In 1925 he became the editor of Hindustan times. Then he served as the secretary to the chancellor of the Chamber of Princes for 20 years. Foreign minister of the state of Patiala, foreign minister of Bikaner and later Diwan of Bikaner in 1944 are the other posts held by him.

Though most of his publications belong to English language, his friendship with Vallathol helped him to develop interest in Malayalam as well. He wrote equally well in both Malayalam and English and published over 50 books and numerous articles. He has written books on Malayalam art as well as Kathakali. A few of his published books are - Caste and Democracy & Prospects of Democracy in India , Essays on Educational Reconstruction in India, Indian Nationalism: its origin, history, and ideals, Lectures on India's Contact with the World in the pre-British Period , The Twentieth Century , The New Empire: letters to a Conservative Member of Parliament on the future of England and India, The States and the Constitutional Settlement, Indian States, The Strategic Problems of the Indian Ocean, Asia and Western Dominance and Hindu Society at Cross Roads.

Published: N/A

Updated: October 25, 2013