V. Balakrishnan

V. Balakrishnan Biography

V. Balakrishnan was a prolific writer associated with Malayalam literature. He is best known for his contributions to translation genre. Apart from translating many works to Malayalam, he has also translated classic Malayalam works to English. He was married to noted writer Leela Devi, which whom he has co-authored most of the works. The couple started their literary career together after marriage and they compiled the first Malayalam Encyclopedia in 1967. Since then they have authored more than 300 books together till Leela passed away in 1998. Balakrishnan passed away on August 2, 2004.

V. Balakrishnan was born in Pala on 13 February 1932. As per Wikipedia source, Balakrishnan and Leela were born exactly on the same day and their birth place is also the same. The couple has translated almost all Vedic Sanskrit books to Malayalam including Vedas, Puranas, Aranyakas, Upanishads, Dharsanas, Mahabharata, Valmiki Ramayana, Devi and Bhagavata Purana. Though Balakrishnan has started his literary career in the 1950s, after his marriage with Leela, they started working together. He was working as a school teacher. To fully dedicate his time to literary career, he resigned his job. Malayalam Encyclopedia in 1967 was their first published book. Since then they have authored many fiction and non-fiction works, translations and a few books related to Hinduism and Christianity.

Balakrishnan won his first prize in literature in the year 1960, when he won first prize at a short story competition held by Kerala Dhwani daily. He won the prize for his short story – Neelakoduveli. It was followed by Children’s work - Ithu Nammute Naatanu and Ottayan (1962) which won first prize at Sahitya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sangam competition and Southern Language Book Trust competition respectively. He authored a book - Amir Hamsa for children with 500 illustrations.

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Updated: July 09, 2016