An erudite scholar and literary critic with astute organisational capabilities, he is best known as a pioneer of Comparative Indian Studies and Literatures.
K. M. George was born on 20 April 1914 at Edayaranmula, Travancore in the present-day Pathanamthitta district of the south Indian state of Kerala, to Kurien Mathai and Mariamma.
Starting his career as a lecturer at his alma mater, MCC, he continued his studies and secured a master's degree in Malayalam literature from the University of Madras in 1941.
[2] He was a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, and at Chicago and California Universities.
He was a learned writer of articles in the media, father of the encyclopaedia in Kerala, editor of Indian literature, researcher of place names of Southern India, travel writer (having travelled the world over), dramatist, biographer, literary critic and auto biographer.