Karamana - Famous Personalities

Famous Personalities

Among many illustrious persons who had made Karamana their home was "Divan Bahadhur Veeraraghavapuram Nagamaiya" (Who incidentally, was the first Bachelor of Arts graduate in Kerala). The Divan (meaning "Minister" or "Grand Vizier") was one of the persons who contributed to the growth of the State of Travancore. In memory of the Diwan, the avenue where he lived is named as "Nagamaiya Avenue".The Famous journalist of the time A.Padmanabha Iyer { Known as Karamanai A.P.Iyer) (1869-1942} was born to Shri.C.Yegnanarayanan and Seethalakshmi in this street. He lived in this place throughout his life. In the meantime he wrote about 179 books. To mention some, Modern Mysore, modern Travancore Souvenir on the Shashti Abdhapoorti (60th Birthday) of Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer.

Neelakanta Sivan, later known as Nilakanta Dasar, a resident of Karamana, man of great spiritual attainments, he wrote many devotional songs in Tamil. His disciple, Papanasam Sivan was greatly influenced by his compositions. He was in Government service till his 35th birthday. Then, he began to compose his lyrics, in praise of Siva. He composed more than a thousand songs. He used "Nilakanta" as the mudra. His greatest contribution was 'Lalitha Mahatmiyam'.

The famous Diwan Sankarasubba Iyer, Diwan of Travancore (Thiruvithamkur) during 1890's was from Karamana. S.S Street (Iratta Theruvu) and a lower primary school also were named after him. Diwan lived in a majestic mansion located in the S.S.Street, well known as "Diwanji Aam" (Minister's Home). His grandchildren, Justice T.S. Krishnamoorthy Iyer and Justice S. Padmanabhan, Judges in Kerala High Court and Madras High Court respectively. Their father, Sankarasubba Iyer was also a Judge of outstanding merit in the Travancore High Court. Their nephew, Jus Sankarasubban was a judge of the Kerala High Court from 1996 to 2006.

Dr.Sambasivan, one of the leading Neurosurgeons in India, hails from Karamana. He devised a technique to operate posterior third-ventricular tumours — extremely complex brain surgery . He is also the Tantri of Sathyavageeswarar Temple(Sivan Kovil) and Durga Temple at Sreekanteswaram.

Karamana is also home to Sooranadu Kunhan Pillai, great lexicographer and Malayalam scholar. Malayattoor Ramakrishnan, a famous malayalam novelist lived in Shastri Nagar in Karamana.

The award winning thespian Karamana Janardhanan Nair hails from this area. Cukkoo of the south - K.S Chithra hails from this place.

Karamana has been referred in various historic literature works, especially in the period detective novel Dharma Raja, written by Sri C.V. Raman Pillai.

The well-known fisheries NGO, SIFFS (South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies), has its headquarters on the banks of the Karamana river here.