Malayalam language essayist Late Karikkatt Marathu Kuttikrishna Marar. He was known for Bharatha Paryatanam, a critical study of the Mahabharata, which is counted by many among the most influential books in Malayalam and was a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.
Kuttikrishna Marar was born on 14 June 1900 in Pattambi, in Palakkad district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Karikkatt Marathu Krishna Marar and Lakshmikutty Marasyar. He learnt percussion, which was the family profession, along with drawing as early education but his life took a turn when he joined Sree Neelakanta Government Sanskrit College Pattambi, where he had the opportunity to study under two known teachers, Punnassery Nambi and Shambu Sharma. Subsequently, he passed the Sahityashiromani examination and started his career as Sahithyacharya at the Kerala Kalamandalam where he worked alongside Vallathol Narayana Menon for 15 years, during which period, he published many of his writings. From 1938 to 1961 he was the proof reader of the Malayalam daily newspaper, Mathrubhumi. Kuttikrishna Marar was a harsh critic of literary indiscretions.
His work, Bharatha Paryatanam, a critical study of the Mahabharata is considered by many as a seminal work and is a part of the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education syllabus. Another of his important works is Kala Jeevitham Thanne (Art is Life itself), which won him Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award and M. P. Paul Prize. Malayala Shaili, another of his notable works, is one of the most authentic treatises on proper Malayalam usage. Sahithyasallapam, Danthagopuram and Kaivilakku (collections of literary criticism) are some of his other works on literary criticism.
