Kainikkara Kumara Pillai was born in 1900 to an educated, middle-class family. His father Perunayil N. Kumara Pillai was a successful lawyer and an Ayurvedic pundit. Kainikkara obtained a B.A in Philosophy from Kumbakonam College in Trivandrum. He became a teacher at the NSS school in Kainikkara, and from 1924–1943 was principal of the KaruvattaHigh School. He become Head Master of Palkulangara High School in Trivandrum. He was principal of Mahatma Gandhi College, Trivandrum (1955–56).Among other positions, he was a Director of Educational Services of All India Radio, Trivandrum. He was also an accomplished actor, performing in many successful plays in Kerala theatres.
He was Chief Editor of an educational journal called Vidyalaya Poshini. As a teacher, he helped and encouraged the novelist Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. He was one of the more important Kerala playwrights of the mid 20th century.A compelling dramatist, he was considerably influenced by the West. He 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.He won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for the playMathruka Manushyan in the year 1970.
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