Mahakavi Ulloor
A commemorative postage stamp on Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, an Indian Malayalam poet and historian :
Issued by India
Issued on Jun 6, 1980
Issued for : The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department feels privileged to issue a special stamp in his honour.
Description of the Designs : The stamp carries a portrait of the poet in the traditional dress of the Travancore State Officers. The first day cover depicts a view of the Mahakavi Ulloor Memorial Building at Trivandrum. The cancellation depicts in outline the magnum opus of the poet, ‘Kerala Sahitya Charithram‘ alongwith the inscription in Hindi and English.
Type : Stamp, Postal Used
Colour : Plum
Denomination : 30 Paise
Overall size : 3.91 X 2.90 cms.
Printing size : 3.55 X 2.54 cms.
Perforation : 13 x 13
Watermark : Printed on watermarked adhesive stamp paper
Number printed : 20,00,000
Number per issue sheet : 35
Printing process : Photogravure
Designed and printed at : India Security Press
Name : Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer
Born on Jun 6, 1877 at Changanassery, Kerala, India
Died on Jun 15, 1949
About :
- Ulloor S. Parmeswara Iyer was born on 6 June 1877 at Changanacherry in Kerala. His father, Subramonia Iyer was then a Malayalam teacher in the local school. His ancestral home was at Ulloor, a northern suburb of the city of Trivandrum. The poet is known in Kerala by the familiar diminutive ‘Ulloor‘.
- His father’s premature death dimmed his prospects for higher education. However, his mother’s perseverance led him to join the Maharaja’s College at Trivandrum, where from he graduated in 1897 with honours in Philosophy. Thereafter he entered the Service of the Travancore State. While in service, he studied and took a degree in Law as well as Master’s degree in Malayalam and Tamil. He rose to the high office of Land Revenue and Income Tax Commissioner and also officiated as Chief Secretary of the State.
- Ulloor‘s abiding fame and imposing contributions are as a versatile and gifted man of letters. His literary output was tremendous. His poetic talents surfaced early and was fostered by his father and encouraged by his literary patrons. Ulloor is a perfect classicist and his poetry bears the stamp of erudition and scholarship. His epic ‘Umakeralam‘ is chaste and blemishless. When the short narrative poems (Khanda Kavya) were in vogue, he wrote ‘Karnabhooshanam‘ and ‘Pingala‘ which to this day remain inimitable. His poems are poignant personal utterances though the fire and the feeling are camouflaged under myth and allegory.
- The magnum opus of Ulloor is the monumental history of Malayalam literature, which was posthumously published by the Kerala University. It is as significant a work as the Cambridge History of English Literature. He was an exceptionally discerning critic with a sense of history, a profound grasp of the classical spirit and meticulous attention to details. He made a deep study of ancient literature and palm leaf manuscripts. He brought to light the earliest Malayalam poem ‘Rama Charitham‘ and the earliest Malayalam prose ‘Dutavakyam‘. Many cantos of ‘Kannassa Ramayanam‘ were annotated and edited by him. A colossus, he dominated the literary life of Kerala for nearly half a century. He passed away on 15 June 1949 at the age of 72.
