S. K. Pottekkatt (1913 - 1982)

S. K. Pottekkatt (1913 - 1982)

Sankaran Kutty Pottekkat (March 14 1913–August 6 1982) was an author from Kerala state of south India, whose work Oru Desattinte Katha (The Story of a Land) fetched him the Jnanpith Award in 1980.

Sankarankutty or S.K. Pottakkat as he is best known by his readers, was born at Kozhikode as the son of Kunchiraman Pottakkat, an English schoolteacher. After graduating from Zamorin’s College, Kozhikode he went on to work as a teacher in a Gujarati local school for a year. It was at this time as if bitten by the travel bug that Pottakkat began his great odyssey that would ultimately take him to many parts of the globe including destinations in Asia, Africa and Europe.

As a first step he traveled to Bombay in 1939 where he worked for some years punctuated by extensive travels across the country. Providentially, this Bombay trip (described in his travelogue and memoir Ente Vazhiyambalangal) broadened his mental horizons and in effect was a turning point in his literary life. While in Bombay, and even before that, he involved himself in the India’s freedom struggle and worked alongside with patriots like Mathai Manjooran.

In 1939 he wrote his first novel Naadanpremam while he was in Bombay which was followed by Yavanikakku Pinnil (a collection of short stories) in 1940, followed by the second novel Vishakanyaka which bagged the prize of Madras government in 1949.

As an aside to his extensive travels and literary works,Pottakkat dallied with politics. In 1957 he contested for the parliamentary election from Tellicherry but lost by just 1000 votes. However, in 1962 he won a thumping victory with a majority of 66,000 votes from the same constituency against his fellow littérateur Sukumar Azhikode.

His novel Oru Theruvinte Katha swept off the Kerala Sahithya Academy Award. Then finally came the novel Oru Desattinte Katha which bagged both the Kerala Sahithya Academy in 1972 and the Kendra Sahithya Academy Award in 1977.

Then finally in 1980, two years before his death, as a fitting finale to the vocation of a great writer Pottakkat was awarded the prestigious Jnanpith Award.

Download Works By S K Pottakkat