His aesthetics were reflective of the dilemmas of contemporary IndiaVishnu Narayanan Namboothiri was truly an Indian poet. Although deeply rooted in the classical tradition, he was among the first in Malayalam poetry to wake up to contemporary social concerns. In that way, you could call him a ‘transitional poet’ who wonderfully integrated in his poetry the classical, romantic, and modernist streams. And, with poet R. Ramchandran, he collected the pioneering modernist voices in Malayalam poetry in Puthumudrakal in the early days. But as a Gandhian, he remained alert to the present and was anxious about the erosion of those values in Indian society.

Source: The Hindu February 25, 2021 17:48 UTC