Kuññanpiḷḷa, Iḷaṅkuḷaṃ, 1904-1973

Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai (8 November 1904 – 4 March 1973), known as Elamkulam, was an Indian historian, linguist and academic from southern Kerala, India. He was a pioneering scholar of southern Indian history, Kerala history, in particular. Although only holding academic degrees in Sanskrit and Malayalam, and having no formal training as a historian, Elamkulam is considered one of the pioneers of modern Kerala historiography. He was one of the major proponents of the unitary/imperial state model in medieval Kerala history. The Elamkulam model of a highly centralised "empire" (unitary/Imperial state model) in medieval Kerala is now considered not acceptable by south Indian historians. Majority of Elamkulam's works are written in Malayalam, with a few in Tamil and English. He was well versed in Kannada, Tulu (largest nonliterary South Dravidian language) and Pali (language of the Theravada Buddhist canon) also. He was also considered one of the top authorities in Vattezhuthu script and Old/Early Malayalam language. Elamkulam associated himself for some time with Mortimer Wheeler in the excavation works at Harappa, Chandravally, and Brahmagiri. He is also known for informally guiding M. G. S. Narayanan, a research scholar in University of Kerala in early 1970s.