 Subsequently, he joined the University College, Thiruvananthapuram for his under-graduate studies with English as the optional subject and Sanskrit as subsidiary and graduated in 1933 and earned a master's degree in English in 1933.Continuing his education, he secured two more master's degrees, in Sanskrit in 1934 and in Malayalam in 1935.Pillai started his professional career as an English teacher in St. Joseph School, Trivandrum and retired from government service in 1971 as the Chief Editor of Malayalam Lexicon, University of Kerala, a position he held from 1953.