Edappalli Raghavan Pillai Biography | Poet

Edappally Raghavan Pillai (Malayalam : ) (30 May 1909 – 4 July 1936) was a romantic Malayalam poet. He along with his close friend Changampuzha Krishna Pillai brought in a new breath of life into the Malayalam poetry of the 1930s. They are considered as Shelley and Keats of Malayalm poetry. In the history of poetries, perhaps in any language, the poem titled 'Ramanan' written by late 'Mahakavi' Changampuzha Krishna Pillai broke all records in its circulation and readership. It was first published in 1937 and within eight years 15 times it had to be reprinted, with thousands of copies in every reprint. (As on today 52 reprints have been brought out and lakhs of copies sold). People even wrote down completely in their own hand since the copies were not available in the market. This pastoral elegy, first of its kind in Malayalam language, was written by Changampuzha in memory of his friend and poet Edappally Raghavan Pillai. A short lived Raghavan Pillai is recognised as a poet with his notable contributions.