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 (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

, then a princely state in the

British Indian Empire The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

and was educated in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

and at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. After a stint as professor at

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

and later at

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

, he became editor of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' 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 aspiration ...

, whence he moved to

Patiala State Patiala State was a kingdom and princely state in Presidencies and provinces of British India, British India, and one of the Phulkian States, that Instrument of Accession, acceded to the Dominion of India, Union of India upon Indian independence ...

and then to

Bikaner State Bikaner State was the princely state, Princely State in the north-western most part of the History of Bikaner, Rajputana province of imperial British India from 1818 to 1947. The founder of the state Rao Bika was a younger son of Rao ...

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; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its 79th session, its powers, ...

. 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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

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

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in 1952. He was appointed a member of the

States Reorganisation Commission The States Reorganisation Commission of India (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 Just ...

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

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 ...

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

University of Kashmir University of Kashmir (UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public State university (India), state university located in the Hazratbal neighbourhood, on the western side of ...

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 Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

Early life and education

Madhava Panikkar was born into a

Nair The Nair (, ) also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom hi ...

family 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 city in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is the district headquarters of the district and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Kottayam has a population of ...

and St. Paul's School,

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

. 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 institut ...

for intermediate classes. At MCC he was a contemporary of Puthezhath Raman Menon, Nandyelath Padmanabha Menon and Sadasiva Reddy among others. He left for England in April 1914 to read history at Christ Church,

. 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 entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, London.

Mao Zedong with Kavalam Madhava Panikkar

He was the first president of the Kerala Sahitya Academy. 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 Panikkar (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 ''

''. 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, India, 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, Patiala, Qila Mubar ...

and as foreign minister of

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

, 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 el ...

of Bikaner in 1944. He served in China until 1952, building a relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, 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. He remained nominated member of

(1959-1961). On recovering, he took up his academic career again, becoming Vice-Chancellor of Jammu and

Kashmir University University of Kashmir (UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate public state university located in the Hazratbal neighbourhood, on the western side of Dal Lake in the city of Srinagar, in Jammu and Kashmir, India, w ...

(1961-1963), Srinagar and later of Mysore University (1963-1964). During his political career Panikkar continued to publish articles and poems, and also translated several Greek plays into

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 ...

verse.

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 Puducherry (union territory), Puduchery, is one of the six classical languages of India. Malayalam literature comprises those literary text ...

, and was a lifelong friend of the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon. He published scholarly works extensively and worked on ancient Indian history and more recent historical developments.

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

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'' (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Kathakaḷi ) is a traditional form of Indian Classical Dance, and one of the most complex forms of Theatre of India, Indian theatre. It is a play of verses. These vers ...

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, 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 ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (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 Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

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

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

& 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
at ''The Hindu''

at the

Kerala Sahitya Akademi The Kerala Sahitya Akademi or Academy for Malayalam Literature is an autonomous body established to promote the Malayalam language and Malayalam literature, literature. It is situated in the city of Thrissur, Kerala in India. History The acad ...