Background
He was born to Neelakanta Pillai and Karthiyanipillai Amma on 26 November 1911 in Sooranad South in Kollam district.
assistant director historian president secretary
He was born to Neelakanta Pillai and Karthiyanipillai Amma on 26 November 1911 in Sooranad South in Kollam district.
He did his schooling in Thevalakkara Malayalam School, Chavara English School, and later joined the Thiruvananthapuram Arts College. He took his master"s degree in English in 1933 and subsequently received his Master"s in Sanskrit (1934) and Malayalam (1935). He specialized in Archaeology also.
In 1984 he was honoured with Padmashri award for his contribution to Malayalam literature and education. He started his professional career as an English Teacher in Saint Joseph School, Trivandrum and retired from Government Service in 1971 as the Chief Editor of Malayalam Lexicon, University of Kerala, where he entered in 1953. He served as the Secretary of Text Book Committee.
Travancore State Manual Assistant.
Assistant Secretary to Government foreign Honorary Director, Kerala University Manuscripts Library.
Member, Indian Historical Records Commission, Member, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Kerala, Editor, Kerala Archives News Letter Board, Chief Advisor of Navasahithi Biographical Encyclopedia. Kunjan Pillai who was a versatile writer in Malayalam has written books in English and Sanskrit as well.
He had knowledge in Tamil and Hindi too.
He published his first work Smashanadeepam (Collected Poems) in 1925 when he was still in school. He has prepared more than 150 text books for High School classes. He has written more than 1000 forewords for the books of many contemporary writers of Malayalam.
He has also written the Malayala nikhandu (Malayalam Dictionary).