Kuññanpiḷḷa, Iḷaṅkuḷaṃ, 1904-1973

Elamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai (8 November 1904 – 4 March 1973), known as Elamkulam, was an Indian historian, linguist and academic from southern Kerala, India. He was a pioneering scholar of southern Indian history, particularly the history of Kerala. Although only holding academic degrees in Sanskrit and Malayalam, and having no formal training as a historian, Elamkulam is considered one of the pioneers of modern Kerala historiography. He was one of the major proponents of the unitary/imperial state model in medieval Kerala history. The Elamkulam model of a highly centralised "empire" (unitary/Imperial state model) in medieval Kerala is now considered unacceptable by south Indian historians. The majority of Elamkulam's works are written in Malayalam, with a few in Tamil and English. He was well versed in Kannada, Tulu and Pali (language of the Theravada Buddhist canon) also. He was also considered one of the top authorities in Vattezhuthu script and Old/Early Malayalam language. Elamkulam associated himself for some time with Mortimer Wheeler in the excavation works at Harappa, Chandravally, and Brahmagiri. He also mentored M. G. S. Narayanan in the early 1970s, who was then a research scholar at the University of Kerala.