Malayalam Department

OUR DEPARTMENTS

Malayalam Department

The Department of Malayalam of S. N College, Kollam has a glorious past. It was started in the same year when the college was founded, that is, in 1948. The inauguration of the department was the realization of the dream of numerous lovers of Malayalam language and literature in and around Kollam District. It is to be noted that in those days there were not many Colleges in Kollam which offered courses to students interested in Malayalam literature. Moreover, the department of Malayalam has been a haven for brilliant but economically and socially backward students. Higher education, especially that of the mother tongue and its rich literary tradition, was denied to a large section of Kerala society who looked  upon the establishment of the department of Malayalam at S. N College, Kollam with great hope and immense zest.
Smt. M. M SarojiniAmma was the first lecturer appointed in the department. Sri. M. K Govindan, a Sanskrit Pundit, was appointed to teach Sanakrit. The department in its early days had a number of brilliant scholars such as M.P Balakrishnan Nair, K. Chandrasekharan, Sri. N. Divakaran and Sri. M. R VelupillaiSastri who gave valuable guidance to students and inspired them to discover the beauty and richness of their literature. As a result of the dedicated and untiring effort of these distinguished scholars, the department of Malayalam became a centre for culture, art and literature

Commencement of Degree Course

A remarkable milestone in the history of Malayalam Department was the launching of the degree course in 1958. The renowned scholar  and critic Sri. M. P Balakrishnan Nair took charges as the first Professor and Head of the Department. He gave the department his heart and soul and worked tirelessly to build a well stocked library which catered to the needs of every scholar. The department had a galaxy of illustrious scholars including Dr. PuthusseriRamachandran, Sri. KunjukrishnanPillai, Sri. M. K Sanu, Dr. VellayaniAijunan, Sri. V Kochukrishnan.In the growth and development of the department, the manager of the S. N Colleges Sri. R Sankar, who was a great lover of literature, showed a keen interest and took care to fulfill its needs.

Commencement of Post-Graduate Course

23-7-1964 was a red-letter day in the annals of Malayalam department as it opened its doors to those students who have an appetite for literature and hunger for culture. The inauguration of the M. A Course was a colourful event which was presided over by Prof. IlamkulamKunjanPillai who was a well-known historian and the inauguration was done by Prof. N. Krishna Pillai, a famous scholar and playwright. Shri G. Somanathan was the first student who later became a Professor in our department. The first batch of students included Kallada Rama Chandran, PonnaraSaraswathy, KilikolloorSivadasan, kadappakkadaGopi who later became eminent professors. Postgraduate students of our early days brought glory to the department by winning ranks and several distinctions.

Former Teachers

In the formative period of the department teachers who were appointed in the department distinguished themselves in the literary world either as critics or as creative writers. The teachers who came later tried to emulate their precursors and tried to excel themselves by their contributions to language and literature. Eminent linguistis like Sri. M. P Balakrishnan Nair, Sri. M. R Velupilaisasthri, Shri. K Chandra Sekharan, Sri. V. Kochukrishnan, Sri. N. Kuttan, Dr. N. R GopinadhanPillai, Sri. AdinaduGopi, famous critics like Sri. M. K Sanu, Sri. K. P Appan, Sri. PrayarPrabhakaran, Sri. KillimannoorViswambnaran, Sri. KalladaRamacharan, Shri. P. O Pursuhothaman, Sri. EzhukoneSivasankaran, celebrated poets such as Sri. KilimannorRamakantan, Sri. KandachiraBabu, Dr. PonnaraSarawathy, Sri. KummilSukumaran, Cartoonist G. Somanathan, Playwright T. D Vidhyanandan and cultural activists like Sri. P. Haridas, Sri. N. Ratheedran, Sri. K. Haridas, Dr. K. Prasannan, Dr. S. Jayaprakash, Sri. Subhash, Smt. S. Saraswathy, Smt. D. Vilasini, Dr. M. Chandrababu, Dr. R. Syama, Smt. Gomathyamma, Sri. N. Divakaran, Sri. T. G Parathasarathi, Smt. S Sulabha, Dr. B Bhuvanendran, Sri. P. Krishnankutty, Dr. P. C Salim, Dr. V. N Geetha, Dr. P. Suseela Devi, Smt. K Beenanna, Dr. P Indira Thankachi, Dr. G. PadmaRao, Dr. T. AnithaKumari etc. are former teachers of this department. Dr. G. Padma Rao was the Dean of Oriental Faculty University of Kerala and Dr. T. AnithaKumari is the Professor of Malayalam Department, Thunchathezhuthachan University.

Former Students

The most important contribution of this department to the nation is its alumini. Many who stepped out of the corridors of this temple of learning adorned several officers and institutions and by their sterling personality and sincere work spreas the values that they imbibed from here. Poets like Dr. PuthusseriRamachandran, Sri. K. G SankaraPillai, Sri. KureepuzaSreekumar, Sri. Chathanoor Mohan, Sri. KandachiraBabu and critics such as Sri. B. Rajeevan, Sri. KalladaRamachandran, Dr. Prasannarajan, Dr. S.S Sreekumar, Dr. Razaludeen were former students of this department. This department is the alma mater of many eminent persons who have distinguished themselves in the social and political fields in Kerala such as Sri. KottaraGopala Krishnan (Ex MLA), J. MercykuttyAmma (Hon. Minister for Fisheries), Sri. V. Sambasivan, Sri. O. Madhavan, Sri. V. Harsha Kumar, Sri. K. C Rajan, Smt. Kalladavijayam etc. Leading journalists like Sri. P. Sujathan (Kerala Kaumudi) Sri. K RajanBabu (Kerala Kaumudi), Sri. B. jayaChandran (Mathrubhoomi), Sri. B Unnikkannan, Sri. JayanMadathil, Dr. MunjinadPadmakumar etc. had their education in this department

Malayalam Association

Under the auspices of Malayalam Association, which has a student as its secretary, we conduct various programmes every year including seminars, debates, poetry readings, lectures by creative writers and critics. Many famous writers, political thinkers and cultural activists have participated in these programmes. Janpith Award winner Sri.ThakazhiSivasankaraPillai, famous critic Dr. SukumarAzhikode, well-known scholar and poet Sri. Thirunalloorkarunakaran, famous story-writter Sri. T. Padmanabhan, the illustrious  poet Sri. O.N. V Kurup, the celebrated poet Sri. BalachandranChullikad, the renowned critic Sri. M. K Sanu poet Sri. D. Vinayachandranwere invited to address the students. After the demise of our former faculty, well known critic Sri. K.P Appan, we have been conducting commemoration speeches by eminent scholars in connection with his death anniversary. Well known writers and critics like Sri. M. Mukundan, Dr. V. Rajakrishnan, sri. AshaMenon, Dr. D. Babu Paul, Dr. P. Chandramathy, Sri. K. P Ramanunni, Sri. V. R Sudheesh etc. were invited to deliver the commemoration speeches

Heads of Department

The successive heads of our department were men of vision any action and they relentlessly tried to give a sense of purpose, vitality and vigour to the department. They include:

  • M. S. Suchitra – Current Head of the Department

  • K. V. Sanal Kumar
  • P. Indira Thankachi
  • P. C Salim
  • V.N Geetha
  • K. Bennamma
  • K. Prasannan
  • P. Haridas
  • Ponnara Sarawathy
  • Kilimannoor Ramakanthan
  • Athinad Gopi
  • V. Kochukrishnan
  • K. Chandrasekharan
  • M. P Balakrishnan Nair

Cultural Activities

The department of Malayalam formed a cultural organization named ‘VicharamSargavedi’ and conducted several literary and cultural programmes such as stage shows based on folklore, Kathakali, Ottanthullal, Padayani, NadanPattu etc.
Every year students of our department bring out a manuscript magazine in Malayalam and they conduct a meeting of poets and creative writers in the department. We also conduct seminars and monthly test papers. Study tour is conducted every year to places of great Malayalam writers. Every year we produce brilliant results and our students secure first or second rank in the BA and MA Examinations. We hold parent teachers meeting twice a semester. Counselling is given to students and special care is taken to solve their grievances. We offer financial aid to poor students

Malayalam Department