nature and symbolism. His autobiography, Kaviyude Kaalpaadukal (The Footprints of a Poet), with foreword by M. T. Vasudevan Nair, is one of the celebrated works in prose in Malayalam. Thamarathoni, written during his days in Kollengode, Kaliyachan, Vayalkarayil, Ratholsavam and Pookkalam are a few of his known poems. Honours The Raja of Nileshwaram honoured Nair with the title Bhakthakavi and presented him with a veerashrungala (golden bracelet) in 1949 and he received the title of Sahitya Nipunan in 1963 from the Raja of Kochi. Kerala Sahitya Akademi selected Kaliyachan of Kunhiraman Nair for their inaugural Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 1959. He received the Kendra Sahithya Academy Award for his work, Thamarathoni, in 1967. In 1981, Eyamkode Sreedharan, with the help of Venugopala Varma, the then Raja of Kollengode who donated a plot of land, initiated the efforts to build a memorial for the poet in Kollengode which was subsequently taken up by the Government of Kerala to establish the Mahakavi P. Memorial Art and Culture Centre. The centre houses music school, a library, Kerala Kalabhavan which is a school for kathakali. The centre also holds performances in folk and classical art forms such as Kathakali, Kanyarkali and Porattukali. A government vocational school at Nair's native place, Bellikoth, has been named after him as Mahakavi P. Smaraka Government Vocational Higher Secondary School and a town hall in Kanhangad has been named Mahakavi P Memorial Hall. Kanhangad also has another memorial of the poet, Mahakavi P. Memorial which was designed by M. V. Devan and houses a library and a public reading room. The upper floor of the building has since been converted into a museum and all the books and articles written by the poet, the chair and dresses used by him, as well as a gold chain presented by the Guruvayur Devaswomm on his 60th birthday are in display there. There are two eponymous organizations, Mahakavi P Foundation, based in Thiruvananthapuram and Mahakavi P. Smaraka Samithi, based in Kanhangad; the former has instituted an annual literary award, Kaliyachan Award and the latter manages two awards for recognising excellence in Malayalam poetry, the Mahakavi P Memorial Award for Poetry and Poetry Award for Young Poets. In popular culture Ivan Megharoopan, a 2012 Malayalam biopic, written and directed by P. Balachandran with Prakash Bare in the lead role, is based on the life of poet as detailed in his