Oyyarathu Chandumenon

Who was Oyyarathu Chandumenon?

Oyyarathu Chandumenon was a Malayalam language novelist from Kerala state, South India. His 1889 work, Indulekha, was the first Malayalam fictional work which met with all the requisite characteristics of a novel according to widely-accepted Malayalam literary convention. It is not the first novel per se, as Kundalatha by Appu Nedungadi pre-dates it by a year. Indulekha throws light on the Nair community during the second half of the nineteenth century when it was undergoing a transformation following western influences and English education. It exalts education and satirizes the orthodox practices of temporary marital alliances between Nair women and Namboodiri men. Indulekha was translated into English 1891 by the-then Collector of Malabar districtMalabar.

Chandumenon got his English education at the school level. He began his career as a clerk in the government service. He continued to teach himself English and won approval of English officials. William Logan, author of the Malabar Manual appointed him as a clerk at Sub-Collector's office. Through a series of promotions, he became a municiff, and in 1892 became the sub-judge of Calicut. He began a second novel named Sarada, the first part of which appeared in 1892.