Kavalam Madhava Panikkar (3 June 1895 – 10 December 1963), popularly known as Sardar K. M. Panikkar, was an Indian statesman and diplomat. He was also a professor, newspaper editor, historian and novelist. He was born in

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...

, then a

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

in the

British Indian Empire The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himse ...

and was educated in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. After a stint as professor at

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

and later at

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every yea ...

, he became editor of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

'' in 1925. Later, he was appointed Secretary to the

Chamber of Princes The Chamber of Princes (''Narendra Mandal'') was an institution established in 1920 by a royal proclamation of King-Emperor George V to provide a forum in which the rulers of the princely states of India could voice their needs and aspiratio ...

, whence he moved to

Patiala State Patiala State was a self-governing princely state of the British Empire in India, and one of the Phulkian States, that acceded to the Union of India upon Indian independence and partition. Patiala Kingdom/State was founded by Sidhu Jat ...

and then to

Bikaner State Bikaner State was a princely state in the Rajputana from 1465 to 1947. The founder of the state, Rao Bika, was the eldest son of Rao Jodha, ruler of Jodhpur. Rao Bika chose to build his own kingdom instead of inheriting his father' ...

as Foreign Minister and later became the latter's Prime Minister. When India achieved political independence, Sardar Madhava Panikkar represented the country at the 1947 session of the

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

. In 1950, he was appointed Ambassador of India (the first non-Socialist country to recognise People's Republic of China) to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. After a successful tenure there, he went as Ambassador to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in 1952. He was appointed a member of the

States Reorganisation Commission The States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) constituted by the Central Government of India in December 1953 to recommend the reorganization of state boundaries. In September 1955, after two years of study, the Commission, comprising Justice Fazal ...

set up in 1953. He was also India's Ambassador to France and a member of

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, the upper house of the Indian parliament. He also served as Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Kashmir The University of Kashmir (U-K, UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate public state university located on the western side of Dal Lake in the city of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India which was established in 1948 ...

and the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. The university is recognised by the University Grants Commission ...

Early life and education

Madhava Panikkar was born to Puthillathu Parameswaran Namboodiri and Chalayil Kunjikutti Kunjamma in the princely state of Travancore in 1895. He completed his basic studies at CMS College School,

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south ...

and St. Paul's School,

Vepery Vepery is a suburb in the north of Chennai, India. Abutting the transportation hub of Park Town, the neighbourhood covers a rectangular area north of the Poonamallee High Road. History Vepery is among those oldest neighbourhoods developed dur ...

. Later on he joined

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous insti ...

for intermediate classes. At MCC he was a contemporary of

Puthezhath Raman Menon Puthezhath Raman Menon (19 October 1891 – 22 September 1973) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Known for essays, historical writings, biographies and translations, Menon was the first to translate Tagore's works into Malayalam. He ...

, Nandyelath Padmanabha Menon and Sadasiva Reddy among others. He left for England in April 1914 to read history at Christ Church,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. After leaving Oxford, Panikkar read for the bar at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

, London.

Mao Zedong with Kavalam Madhava Panikkar

He was the first president of the

Kerala Sahitya Academy The Kerala Sahitya Akademi or Academy for Malayalam literature is an autonomous body established to promote the Malayalam language and literature. It is situated in City of Thrissur, Kerala in India. History The academy was inaugurated on 15 ...

. After his studies, Panikkar travelled to Portugal and Holland to research the involvement of these countries with Malabar, the results of which were published in the books ''Malabar and the Portuguese'' (1929) and ''Malabar and the Dutch'' (1931). He was the maternal uncle of the noted poet, dramatist and lyricist

Kavalam Narayana Panicker Kavalam Narayana Panicker (1 May 1928 – 26 June 2016) was an Indian dramatist, theatre director, and poet. He has written over 26 Malayalam plays, many adapted from classical Sanskrit drama and Shakespeare, notably Kalidasa's ''Vikramorvasiy ...

Career

On returning to India, he first taught at the

and later at the

. He turned to journalism in 1925 as editor of the ''

''.

Zhou_Enlai,_Vijaya_Lakshmi_Pandit_and_Kavalam_Madhava_Panikkar

For the next 20 years, Madhava Panikkar served the Princely States, becoming secretary to the chancellor of the

. He also served as the foreign minister of the state of

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak'' (the 'Fortunate Castle') construct ...

and as foreign minister of

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Formerly the capital o ...

, and became the

dewan ''Dewan'' (also known as ''diwan'', sometimes spelled ''devan'' or ''divan'') designated a powerful government official, minister, or ruler. A ''dewan'' was the head of a state institution of the same name (see Divan). Diwans belonged to the e ...

of Bikaner in 1944. He served in China until 1952, building a relationship with

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

, and remaining there through the Communist takeover in 1949 and the following period. He wrote of his experiences in the book ''In Two Chinas'' (1955). This period also saw the completion of his work ''Asia and Western Dominance'' (1953). He subsequently served as ambassador to Egypt (1952–1953), and France (1956–1959), before a severe stroke forced him to return to India. On recovering, he took up his academic career again, becoming Vice-Chancellor of

Jammu and Kashmir University Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of , ...

and later of

Mysore University The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. The university is recognised by the University Grants Commission ...

. During his political career Panikkar continued to publish articles and poems, and also translated several Greek plays into

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

verse. He was a nominated member of

from 1959 - 1961.

Academics and scholarship

Early on Madhava Panikkar had cultivated an interest in

Malayalam literature Malayalam, the lingua franca of the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puduchery, is one of the six Classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary texts written in Malayalam, a S ...

, and was a lifelong friend of the poet

Vallathol Narayana Menon Vallathol Narayana Menon (Malayalam: വള്ളത്തോൾ നാരായണ മേനോൻ) (16 October 1878 – 13 March 1958) was a Malayalam poet and one of the triumvirate of modern Malayalam poetry, along with Asan and Ulloor ...

. He published scholarly works extensively and worked on ancient Indian history and more recent historical developments.

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

historian Arthur Hassall wrote that in his "long career as tutor of history at Christ Church" he had "never had a more brilliant student." Madhava Panikkar's interests stretched into diverse fields such as, art, notably novels, poetry and

Kathakali Kathakali ( ml, കഥകളി) is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up and costumes of the traditional male actor-dancers. It is native to the M ...

and he wrote equally well in both Malayalam and English and published over 50 books and numerous articles. Madhava Panikkar's interest in European influence on Asia was reflected in his studies of the Portuguese and the Dutch in Malabar (in South India) and especially in his ''Asia and Western Dominance'' (1953). ''In Two Chinas'' (1955) revealed his sympathy with Communist China.

Bibliography

Notable works in English: *1920: ''Essays on Educational Reconstruction in India'' *1922: ''Sri Harsha of Kanauj: a monograph on the history of India in the first half of the 7th century A. D.'' *1923: ''Indian Nationalism: its origin, history, and ideals'' *1928: ''The Working of Dyarchy in India, 1919–1928'' *1929: ''The Evolution of British Policy towards Indian States, 1774–1858'' *1929: ''Malabar and the Portuguese: being a history of the relations of the Portuguese with Malabar from 1500 to 1663'' *1930: ''The Founding of the Kashmir State: a biography of Maharajah

Gulab Singh Gulab Singh Jamwal (1792–1857) was the founder of Dogra dynasty and the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the largest princely state under the British Raj, which was created after the defeat of the Sikh Empire in t ...

, 1792–1858'' *1930: ''Federal India'' *1932: ''Indian States and the Government of India'' *1934: ''The New Empire: letters to a Conservative Member of Parliament on the future of England and India'' *1936: ''The Indian Princes in Council: a record of the chancellorship of His Highness, the Maharaja of

, 1926–1931 and 1933–1936'' *1937: ''His Highness the Maharaja of

: a biography'' *1938:
Hinduism and the modern world
' *1942: ''The States and the Constitutional Settlement'' *1943: ''Indian States'' *1944: ''The Strategic Problems of the Indian Ocean'' *1945: ''India and the Indian Ocean: an essay on the influence of sea power on Indian history'' *1947: ''India through the Ages'' *1953: ''Asia and Western Dominance: a survey of the

Vasco Da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

epoch of Asian history, 1498–1945'' *1954: ''A Survey of Indian History'' *1954: ''In Two Chinas: memoirs of a diplomat'' *1956: ''The Principles and Practice of Diplomacy'' *1957: ''Voice of Truth, a topical symposium: replies to attacks on Christians and missionaries in India'' *1957: ''India and China: a study of cultural relations'' *1958: ''The Determining Periods of Indian History'' *1960: ''A History of Kerala, 1498–1801'' *1960: ''The State and the Citizen'' *1961: ''Hindu Society at Cross Roads'' *1961: ''Essential Features of India Culture'' *1962: ''In Defence of Liberalism'' *1963: ''Studies in Indian History'' *1963: ''The Ideas of Sovereignty and State in Indian Political Thought'' *1963: ''The Foundations of New India'' *1963: ''The

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

in Indian Life'' *1964: ''A Survey of Indian History'' *1964: ''

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

& the West: a study in challenge and response'' *1964: ''The Serpent and the Crescent: a history of the Negro empires of western Africa'' *1965: ''Lectures on India's Contact with the World in the pre-British Period'' *1966: ''The Twentieth Century'' *1967: ''Caste and Democracy & Prospects of Democracy in India'' *1969: ''Geographical Factors in Indian History'' *1977: ''An Autobiography''

References

External links

The Hindu Reformation K. M. Panikkar
''The Hindu''

Kerala Sahitya Akademi The Kerala Sahitya Akademi or Academy for Malayalam literature is an autonomous body established to promote the Malayalam language and literature. It is situated in City of Thrissur, Kerala in India. History The academy was inaugurated on 15 ...