Govind Shankar Kurup Biography - Birth date, Achievements, Career, Family, Awards

Govind Shankar Kurup was born on 03 June 1901 in Cochin (now Ernakulam District, Kerala, India). His father's name was Shankar Warrier and his mother's name was Lakshmikutty Amma. Due to the death of his father in his childhood, he was raised by his maternal uncle. His maternal uncle was an astrologer and a pundit.

He received his primary education from Malayalam Middle School in Perumpavoor. He studied the literature of Bangla and Malayalam by passing the Pandit examination of Cochin State.

Shankar Kurup qualified for teaching by passing the "Pandit" examination of Cochin State. He also continued to work here and there for two years. Govind Shankar Kurup published his first poem 'Prakriti Namaskar' in the year 1918. Was. Some of the poems of the first part of his poetry collection, Sahitya Kautukam, belong to this period. But he got his wish when he was appointed as a teacher at Tiruvilvamla High School. From 1921 to 1925, Shankar Kurup lived in Tiruvilvamala. Initially, there was a natural attraction towards nature, it took the form of the spirit of Annaya worshiper in these four years. Kurup from Tiruvilvamala reached the Chalakutty High School in 1925. In the same year the second part of "Sahitya Kautukam" was published. The publication of the poem titled "Nallen" in 1931 created a stir in the literary world. Some people even called him seditious and because of this, his appointment to the post of professor in "Maharaja's College", Ernakulam was also interrupted once. From 1937 until his retirement in 1956, he was a Malayalam professor in this college. After taking leave here, he was a producer at the Trivandrum center of All India Radio. The first edition of Govinda Shankar Kurup's poetic work "Otkkushath" was published in the year 1950. There were 60 poems in its original form. There are 58 poems in present form.

Mahakavi "Govind Shankar Kurup has more than 40 original and translated works published. Some of his poetry collections are as follows - Sahitya Kautukam, Char Khandukam (1923-1929), Suryakanti (1932), Ottakkushth (1950), Antadah (1953), Vishwadarshanam (1960), Jeevansangitam (1964), Patheyam (1961), prose-Gadyopaharam (1940), Lekhmal (1943) and some of the major plays written by him are as follows - Sandhya (1944), Iruttinu Mumpu (1935)

Shankar Kurup was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for poetry in 1961 for his Purana, Vishvadarshanam. The Central Sahitya Academy awarded him his annual award for poetry in 1963. He was the first winner of the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary award, when the award was instituted in 1965. He received the award for his anthology, Odukuzhal (Bamboo) Flute) which was published in 1950; He set aside a portion of the prize money to establish the Odakkuzal Prize in 1968 and the work was later translated into Hindi, titled Bansuri. In 1967, he received the Soviet Land Nehru Award and a year later, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan's third highest civilian honor. In 2003, India Post released a commemorative postage stamp on Kurup as part of the Jnanpith awardees series.