Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (Mēlpattūr Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭatiri; 1560–1646/1666), third student of Achyuta Pisharati, was a member of Madhava of Sangamagrama's Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics.
However, he is most famous for his masterpiece, Narayaneeyam, a devotional composition in praise of Guruvayurappan (Krishna) that is still sung at Guruvayur Temple.
Bhattathri was from a village named Melpathur at Kurumbathur in Athavanad Panchayat near Kadampuzha, very close to the Tirur River, as well as near to the holy town of Thirunavaya and Bharathappuzha, that was famed as the theatre of the Mamankam festival, in Malappuram district.
Unable to see his pain, by yogic strength and by way of Gurdakshina, Bhattathri is said to have taken the disease upon himself and relieved his guru.
To relieve Narayana of this disease, Ezhuthachan, a Malayalam poet and Sanskrit scholar hinted- "meen thottu koottuka" (start with the fish).
However, Bhattathiri, understanding the hidden meaning, decided to present the various incarnations of Vishnu starting with the fish, as narrated in the Bhagavata Purana in a series of Dasakas (groups of ten slokas).
The 100th canto composed on that day gives a graphic description of this form of the Lord from the head to the foot.
One day he took some of his poems of the njanappana to Bhattathiri in order to correct them and improve them, but this was dismissed by Bhattathiri with a haughty remark that Poonthanam didn't know the correct meaning of words and he didn't want to waste his time on such silly works.
His works are:[1] Under the patronage of Cochin Vira Keralavarman (1601-1615 A.D) Melputtur wrote the Gosrinagaravarnana and Virakeralaprasasti.
[1]: 164 It is said that Bhattathiri lived at least for 86 years, since his wish was to have a happy, healthy, long life as seen at the end of Narayaneeyam.
Accordingly, he lived in many places after his cure of rheumatism, like Kochi, Ambalapuzha, Kozhikode and finally he settled in Mookkola near Changaramkulam in the present-day Malappuram district.