Kattakayam Cherian Mappillai

Cherian Mappillai was born on 24 February 1859 in Pala in Kottayam district of the south Indian state of Kerala in a Christian family to Ulahannan and Cecily.

[1] His schooling was limited to Sanskrit studies with Njavakkattu Damodaran Kartha for a few years by which time, he had already started writing poems.

His early poems were published in Nasrani Deepika magazine in 1887 and in 1890, he started a poetry column in Malayala Manorama, encouraged by Kandathil Varghese Mappillai, the founder of the daily.

[1] He wrote a number of poems and plays[2] and the most known among them was Shree Yeshu Vijayam,[3] a mahakavya in 24 cantos on the Bible,[4] detailing from the Book of Genesis to the New Testament.

[5] When J. Thomas Kayalackakom founded Vijnaana Rathnaakaram in 1913, Cherian Mappilai served as its founder editor.