Kainikkara Kumara Pillai (1900–1988) was an Indian teacher, actor, short story writer, essayist and playwright of Malayalam literature, best known for his plays such as Harichandra, Mathruka Manushyan and Mohavum, Mukhtiyum.
Kainikkara Kumara Pillai was born on 27 September 1900 at Perunna, Travancore (present-day south Indian state of Kerala) to Nair parents Perunayil N. Kumara Pillai, a lawyer and an Ayurvedic physician and Haripattu Poothottal L. Parvathy Pilla.
[5] He started his literary career with Duranthasanka, an adaptation of Othello of William Shakespeare,[1] which preceded eighteen books, composed of plays, short stories and essay compilations.
[2][6] A noted actor of the times, he also translated Shakespeare's Othello and Antony and Cleopatra, and adapted the play A New Way to Pay Old Debts by Philip Massinger, with the title Manimangalam.
[8][9] He taught Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai in school[10] and encouraged the aspiring writer to take up prose which helped him in his literary career.