Keezhedathu Damodaran (25 February 1912 – 3 July 1976) was an Indian

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

theoretician, writer and one of the leaders of the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Early life and education

Damodaran was born to Kizhakkiniyakath Thuppan Nampoothiri and Keezhedathu Narayani Amma in

Ponnani Ponnani () is a Nagar Palika (Municipality), municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the est ...

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a municipality and town in Kerala and the headquarters of the Malappuram district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Kerala, 4th largest urban agglomeration in Kerala and ...

district. He had his schooling in Government School, Tirur, and college education in Samoothiri College, Calicut. His first socialist activities were associated with being secretary of the student movement 'Kerala Students Movement' and he joined the freedom struggle. He was arrested in 1931 for participating in the

civil disobedience movement Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". ...

and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 23 months. While in

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

jail, he learned

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

. He went to Kasi (UP) in 1935 to study

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

from the ''Viswa Vidyalaya'' there and passed the Shastri examination. While at Kasi he learned

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and was attracted to Communist ideology.

Political career

Lal Bahadur Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; born Lal Bahadur Srivastava; 2 October 190411 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as Minister ...

was his classmate. He was attracted to Communist ideology through his senior Onkar Nadashasthri. Thus he became a Communist – the first 'Malayalee Communist'. He returned to Kerala in 1937 and joined the

Kerala Socialist Party Founded on 21 September, 1947 in Kozhikode, the Kerala Socialist Party (KSP) is a political party in India established under the leadership of Mathai Manjooran. Initially a small entity, the KSP gained significant public attention due to the effo ...

and in May the same year formed the Kerala unit of the

. He organized

Coir Coir (), also called coconut fibre, is a natural fibre extracted from the outer husk of coconut, and used in products such as floor mats, doormats, brushes, and mattresses. Coir is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell ...

and

Beedi A beedi (also spelled bidi or biri) is a thin cigarette or cigar, mini-cigar filled with tobacco flake and commonly wrapped in a tendu (''Diospyros melanoxylon'') or ''Piliostigma racemosum'' leaf tied with a string or adhesive at one end. It ...

workers. He was imprisoned twice and released in 1945. In 1951, he was elected as the

Taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

secretary of the Malabar unit committee of the Communist Party. He contested the assembly election in 1951 and the

Loksabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-th ...

election in 1957. Damodaran was elected to the central executive committee of the party in 1960. He took charge of editing the Navayugam weekly. All through these years he was intellectually active by way of writing articles and books, learning new languages and debating on various forums. He became a

Rajya sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

member (MP) in 1964. He visited many Asian and European countries including almost all of the communist nations. After the tenure, he devoted his time to a comprehensive research on the history of the Party at (JNU) under an ICHR fellowship. He was the first progressive writer in Malayalam. 'pattabakki' was the first political drama to be staged in kerala which, in a way, paved the way for the advancement of communist ideology among the common people. He dwelled deep into Indian Philosophy which was considered solely spiritual until then and discovered new streams of material thoughts in it. His celebrated works 'Bharatheeya Chintha' and 'Indiayude athmavu' speaks volumes of the metamorphosis. He was a multilinguist and could speak for hours on thought provoking subjects. He died on July 3, 1976, in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

at the

Safdarjung Hospital Safdarjung Hospital is a multi-specialty hospital, and the largest central government hospital in India if measured by bed strength. It is associated with Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and located in the heart of New Delhi on the Ring Road, ...

while he was still conducting this research. Damodaran was a multilingual scholar and translated many books from

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

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

. Apart from ''Pattabaakki'', he wrote another play named ''Rakthapanam''. The stories written between 1934 and 1935 are now a collection known as ''Kannuneer''. In all his works, party popularization was seen. The best known of his works is ''Indiyude Atmavu'' and in English, an excellent exposition of 'Indian Culture' and 'Philosophy from the ancient times'. He completed only first part of ''Kerala History'' based on archeology, anthropology and coin sciences. His critical insights on the global Communist movement, and particularly the Indian Communist movement, were thoroughly discussed in an interview conducted by

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (;; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and co ...

in 1975, which was published i
New Left Review, Sept.-Oct. 1975
. Political activist and documentary director K. P. Sasi is the son of Damodaran.

Works

In Malayalam

*Jawaharlal Nehru *Eka Vazhi *Kannuneer (short stories) *Karl Marx *Samashtivada Vijnapanam (translation of the ''

Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The t ...

'') *Paattabaakki (play) *Rakthapaanam (play) *Russian viplavam (co-authored with

E. M. S. Namboodiripad Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (13 June 1909 – 19 March 1998), popularly known as E.M.S. Namboodiripad or simply by his initials E. M. S., was an Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of ...

) *Manushyan *Dhanasasthrapravesika *Uruppika *Nanayaprasnam *Communism Enthu Enthinu ? *Purogamana sahithyam Enthinu? *Communisavum Christhumathavum *Marxism (in 10 parts) *Indiayude Aathmavu *Keralathile Swathanthryasamaram (co-authored with C Narayana pillai) *Dhanasasthra thathwangal *Dharmikamoolyangal *Enthanu saahithyam *Chinayile Viplavam *Keralacharithram *Sahithya niroopanam *Indiayum Socialisavum *Indiayude Sampathikabhivrudhi *Innathe Indiayude Sampathikasthithi *Yesuchristhu Moscowil *SamoohyaParivarthanangal *Socialisavum Communisavum *Panam Muthal Nayapaisa Vare *Indiayile Deseeyaprasthanam(Translated directly from Russian) *Marxisathinte Adisthanathathwangal *Bharatheeyachintha *Sreesankaran Hegel Marx *Oru Indian Communistinte Ormakkurippukal

In English

*Indian Thought *Man and Society in Indian Philosophy *Marx Hegel and Sreesankara *Marx Comes to India (co-authored with P.C.Joshi)

In Hindi

*Bharatheeya chinthaa parampara

References

Notes

Other sources

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Damodaran, K 1912 births 1976 deaths 20th-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian politicians Communist Party of India politicians from Kerala Hindi-language writers Indian communist writers Indian independence activists from Kerala Indian Marxist historians Indian Marxist writers Indian Sanskrit scholars Journalists from Kerala Malayalam-language writers Malayali politicians Marxist theorists Scholars from Kerala Recipients of the Padma Shri in other fields