Kainikkara Kumara Pillai (1900–1988), younger brother of Kainikkara Padmanabha Pillai, was a Malayalam teacher, actor and playwright, who wrote classics such as "Harichandra".[1]
Kainikkara Kumara Pillai was born in 1900 to an educated, middle-class family. His father Perunayil N. Kumara Pillai was a successful lawyer and an Ayurvedic pundit. Kainikkara obtained a B.A in Philosophy from Kumbakonam College in Trivandrum. He became a teacher at the NSS school in Kainikkara, and from 1924–1943 was principal of the Karuvatta High School. He become Head Master of Palkulangara High School in Trivandrum.[1] He was principal of Mahatma Gandhi College, Trivandrum (1955–56).[2] Among other positions, he was a Director of Educational Services of All India Radio, Trivandrum. He was also an accomplished actor, performing in many successful plays in Kerala theatres.[1]
He was Chief Editor of an educational journal called Vidyalaya Poshini.[3] As a teacher, he helped and encouraged the novelist Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai.[4] He was one of the more important Kerala playwrights of the mid 20th century.[5] A compelling dramatist, he was considerably influenced by the West. He translated Shakespeare's Othello and Antony and Cleopatra, and adapted the play A New Way to Pay Old Debts by Philip Massinger, with the title Manimangalam.[6]