A great scholar and poet, Kaikulangara Rama Warrier who gave copyright of all his 16 great works for just 500 rupees to Parammel Iyyu Ittupp of Kunnamkulam (Thrissur), the businessman who printed his works and circulated! The documentation (Theeradharam) was registered at Chavakkad Sub-Registrar Office on 1885 June 30, which tells the story of poverty during the last phase of his life. Rama Warrier passed away 120 years ago on 1897 October 5. There are two opinions about his place of death – Kadangod Kaikulangara Kizhakke Wariyam and Thirur Thrikkandiyur Wariyam. Yet no one has arguments about his birth on the Chodi star of the Chingam month.
Though Kaikulangara Rama Warrier’s ancestral home, Kaikulangara Kizhakke Wariyam, doesn’t exist, the room where he was born has been preserved till now. After the fire attack in 1868, the home was renovated by Punnathur Valiya Thampuran, and it’s the only room that’s left now.
Kaikulangara Rama Warrier – Malayalam Publisher of the 19th Century
A brief note on the early days of Kaikulangara Rama Warrier
He was born in Thalapilly of Kadangod Desam in Thrissur. He was born in Kizhakke Waryam as the third child to Narayani Warasyar and Kaithakott Narayana Bhattathiri. Rama Warrier showed intense desire to learn and grasp power from a young age. He joined the Bhajan group of Kaikulangara Devi temple at a very young age, where he also stayed and ate only Nivedyam of the temple.
He showed some sort of eccentricities since those days. The best instance is the worship of the sun lord at noon, lying flat on the ground. He used to climb a banyan tree nearby and closely observe the sun, which created a feeling of madness in whoever watched his mannerisms. Though many people strictly warned him not to do so, he continued with his habits. Later, he revealed that he did so to please goddess Saraswathy who sits at the centre of Aditya Mandalam, as advised by his father.
Kaikulangara Rama Warrier studied for three years at Thrippunithura Kovilakam, under the Guru Palappuram Puthiyedath Govinda Nambiar. The guru was so fond of him, which irked other disciples who belonged to rich families. Rama Warrier belonged to a poor family, that’s the reason why. Later, he was forced to leave the place without completing his studies. He later worked at Thrissur Brahmaswam Madam and studied Veda, overhearing it.
Later Rama Warrier spent his years at different Illams teaching and reciting literary works
Later he moved to Kunnathur Kovilakam. He earned the friendship of Valiya Thampuram and stayed there, and during this time, he taught Sanskrit to a few residents of Kovilakam. He supported some of his disciples of the Kovilakam in the matter of handling of power, and even appeared as a witness at court to get a judgment in favour of his students. This incident irked many female members of this Kovilakam, and he ended his stay there.
Kaikulangara Rama Warrier returned to Kaikulangara and was invited to Kottakal Kizhakke Kovilakam by Valiya Thampuran to recite the Bhagavatam exclusively for him. He had a relationship with a female member of Kovilakam and was forced to leave the place. Furthermore, he moved towards the north and reached Kumbala Kovilakam at the Karnataka border, where he taught the members grammar, debates, and ornamentation used in poetry. He also learnt the Kannada language within 2 weeks for this purpose.
During this time, Kaikulangara Rama Warrier became the disciple of Yogananda Swamikal, who reached the place to observe Chaturmasya. Thus, he got the opportunity to learn the body language of Brahma Sootra directly from his guru. Observing his amazing grasping power, the guru got extremely pleased and granted him the titles – Vagdasan, Ramanantha Nadan, and Pandita Paravendran. He studied Veda from Yogananda Swamikal by staying three months each at Mookambika temple and Kudajadri temple. When Guru returned to Badri Ashram, Warrier too returned to his hometown.
Kaikulangara Rama Warrier’s association with Paramel Ittup and the paper printing of Ezhuthachan’s works
Kaikulangara Rama Warrier received invitation from Ullattil Achyuthan Nair who served as Munsif at Vettathunadu. Thus Raman reached Thrikandiyur of Thirurur. He was instructed to teach Nair’s wife in Sanskrit, poems, and drama. During this time, he got attracted to Kutti Warryasar of Thrikkandiyur Warriyam and got married. A daughter was born to him in this wedlock. Again he moved to Kunnamkulam with an intense desire to defeat scholar Payyazhi Nair in a Shastra debate, who had defeated him earlier. A debate between the two was conducted in 1864, and Paramel Ittup got attracted to the excellence of Kaikulangara Rama Warrier in this field, where he prospered in some business aspects. He started thinking about different methods, how to bring the talents and literary power of Rama to the cultural lives of normal man, and concluded to publish his writings and make it easily available to everyone. Rama Warrier readily accepted the idea.
In those days, printing presses were not available in Thrissur or Kunnamkulam, and the nearest one was in Ernakulam. The first work was Ezhuthachan’s Ramayana, written in palm leaves. Kaikulangara Rama Warrier reworked on it, corrected its mistakes and wrote in paper. The book was printed at St. Thomas printing press at Kochi. Still then Ramayana was available only in palm leaves. When the work was printed on paper for the first time, it became a grand success, and several copies were sold. Paramel Ittup was indeed pleased with its success, and he continued the process by printing several great works of that era.
Kaikulangara Rama Warrier printed Ezhuthachan’s Kilipatt works, followed by the explanation works of Raghuvamsam, Sreekrishna Vilasam, Maagham, etc., and got published from Kochi. All the books were sold. But due to the inconveniences of going to Kochi to print all these works, which gave him huge expenses as well, in 1860 Paramel Ittup started a printing press named Vidhyaaratna Prabha at Kunnamkulam South Market (Thekke Angadi), where he continued with printing books. He also gave accommodation to Rama Warrior at Kunnumkulam, near to Anjoor temple. The press was later renamed as Kerala Vidhya Prakashika (KVP), and the building along with this press and the ancestral home of Ittup are still preserved at Kunnamkulam, Thrissur. Currently, the senior member of his family is Paramel Chummar Tharu.
When the demand of books went high, Ittup appointed Maliyammav Kunju Wareed as the manager of Warrier. Wareed earlier worked in St. Thomas printing press, Ernakulam. Rama Warrier was not given a monthly salary, but based on the no: of pages of written. 8 pages together were considered as 1 forum, and 1.25 rupees was given to him for each forum. He had to spend 25 paise from the amount he received to his assistant, who copies his work. Apart from his salary, he also accepted cash in advance from Ittup several times.
Once while going through the accounts, it was noticed that Kaikulangara Rama Warrier has bought 2000 rupees in advance. But he had no alternative to repay that amount, except to sell the copyright of his works to Ittup. Thus, he sold the copyright to print and publish his 16 works for just 500 rupees.
His final years
In 1885 Malayalam month Medam, Maliyammav Kunju Wareed returned to the St. Thomas printing press. Due to his friendly relation with Maliyammav, he handed over some of his interpretation works to him and St. Thomas printing press, on his return. Later, Maliyammav started a printing house in Thrissur named Bharata Vilasam, Warrier gave some of his works too. Very soon, he left his job as K. V. P and moved to Thrissur. He stayed there with his family for nearly 9 years.
Towards the end of 1894, Kaikulangara Rama Warrier’s eldest daughter had a premature death it shattered him fully. He hated to live in Thrissur town and seized his writings as well. He sent his wife and children to Thrikkandiyoor, and he shuttled between Thrikkandiyoor and Kaikulangara. During this time, he faced severe financial troubles as well as health issues.
Kaikulangara Rama Warriere passed away aged 64. Historians have not concluded how many works were written by Warrier. In the biography written by Professor Balakrishna Warrier, it’s noted that he authored 49 books, though there is no authentication. His total works also remain a mysterious puzzle, just like the struggling life he led.
Read a few more articles on some of the stalwarts of Malayalam literature belonging to different eras. Here is the page link. Click on the images in the gallery to read
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