Kumaran Asan

Biography

Asan was born on 12 April 1873, in a merchant family belonging to Ezhava community in Kayikkara village, Chirayinkeezhu taluk, Anchuthengu Grama Panchaayath in Travancore to Narayanan Perungudi, a polyglot well versed in Malayalam and Tamil languages, and Kochupennu as the second of their nine children. His early schooling was at a local school by a teacher by name, Udayankuzhi Kochuraman Vaidyar, who taught him elementary Sanskrit after which he continued his studies at the government school in Kayikkara until he was thirteen. Subsequently, he joined the school as a teacher in 1889 but had to quit as he was not old enough to hold a government job. It was during this time, he studied the verses and plays of Sanskrit literature. Later, he started working as an accountant at a local wholesale grocer in 1890, the same year he met Shree Narayana Guru and became the spiritual leader's disciple.

Narayana Guru's influence led Asan to spiritual pursuits and he spent some time at a local temple, in prayers and teaching Sanskrit. Soon, he joined Guru at his Aruvippuram hermitage where he was known as Chinnaswami ("young ascetic"). In 1895, he moved to Bangalore and studied for law, staying with Padmanabhan Palpu. He stayed there only until 1898 as Palpu went to England and a plague epidemic spread over Bangalore and Asan spent the next few months in Madras before proceeding to Calcutta to continue his Sanskrit studies. At Calcutta, he studied at Tarka sastra at the Central Hindu College, studying English simultaneously and also got involved with the Indian Renaissance, but his stay was again cut short due to plague epidemic. He returned to Aruvippuram in 1900.

Asan was also involved with the activities of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) and became its secretary in 1904. The same year, he founded Vivekodayam, a literary journal in Malayalam, and assumed its editorship. Under his leadership, the magazine became a monthly from a bi-monthly. In 1913, he was elected to the Sree Moolam Popular Assembly (Sri Moolam Praja Sabha), the first popularly elected legislature in the history of India. He relinquished the position at SNDP in 1919 and a year later, took over the editorship of Pratibha, another literary magazine In 1921, he started a clay tile factory, Union Tile Works, in Aluva but when it was found that the factory was polluting the nearby palace pond, he shifted the project to a site near Aluva river and handed over the land to SNDP for building an Advaitashramam. Later, he moved to Thonnakkal, a village in the periphery of Thiruvananthapuram, where he settled with his wife. In 1923, he contested in assembly election from Quilon constituency but lost to Sankara Menon.

Asan married Bhanumathiamma, the daughter of Thachakudy Kumaran Writer in 1917.

Death

Asan died on 16 January 1924, after a boat named Redeemer carrying him capsized in the Pallana river in Alappuzha. His body was recovered after two days and the place where his mortal remains were cremated is known as Kumarakodi.