Kavithilakan Pandit K P Karuppan (1885-1938) - Dr. George K Alex, Elizabeth John

Born on 25 May 1885, Karuppan belonged to the Vala Community and was educated in traditional schools. He raised his voice against caste discrimination. He was a well-known teacher and a Member of the Cochin legislature. He expired on 23 March 1938.

Pandit K P Karuppan was a revolutionary of his age. He liberated poetry from the Savarna Caste, re-shaped the traditional concepts of poetry and sowed the seeds of reformist aspirations in the literary arena. His contributions to literature markedly reflect his political life and his social activism and he is acknowledged as a social reformer,especially because of his writings, which focused on the anti caste struggle.

Jatikkummi, published in 1912, is a poem by Karuppan, sung in the metre of the Kummi, a folk art form, sung during weddings in the Ezhava and Araya communities. The work written to be sung at such social gatherings, evolved in the form of debate between Sankaracharya, the founder of Brahmanism, and Shiva, a Chandala God. The poem narrates how Sankaracharya, on his way to Kashi, confronted a Praya, a person of the low caste. He demanded the Paraya to move away from his path, but the later was obstinate and stood his ground. A heated argument ensued, during which the Brahmin sankaracharya realized that futility of the caste system. The Paraya was then Transformed to the Shiva.

The poem develops its plot from Sankaracharya's ' Maneeshi Panchakam', but it is an independent work, passionate in its urge for emancipation. The origin of the caste system is well depicted in the poem, which aids the common man's understanding of it.

Stage plays were forms of art, introduced in South India by the Portuguese missionaries towards the close of the 19th century. Stage plays were enacted during religious ceremonies. Plays were used by Malayali writers as tools of social criticism and for rectification of social evils. In 1893 Kodungalloor Kochunni Thampuran wrote a play, in which he condemns certain Hindu traditions and practices. K P Kocheeppan Tharakan wrote Mariyamma Natakam 1n 1893 with a view to reforming the Christian comminity and K C Keshava Pillai wrote Lakshmi Kalyanam, which was targeted at the Nair Communited.

Balakalesham by Pandit Karuppan, written 193, excoriated the caste system, untouchability and a few other unhealthy Hindu practices. This play, staged in 1918, stands out among Malayalam plays as the first to present a Pulaya, a person of a low caste, on the stage. The play also has the disnction that it challenged the traditional concepts of the Sanskrit plays and modernized the concepts of drama.

The Pulaya was treated with contempt and disdain by the society till the 20th century. Karuppan's revolutionary aspirations introduced a Pulaya character on the stage. This gradually paved the way for a reconstruction of the Kerala society.