Mannathu Padmanabhan Pillai

• Mannathu Padmanabhan was a social reformer and a freedom fighter from the State of Kerala.
• He is recognised as the founder of the Nair Service Society.
• Mannathu Padmanathan was born in Perunna village in Changanacherry  on 2 January 1878.
• Father: Eswaran Namboothiri of Nilavana Illam
• Mother: Mannathu Parvathy Amma
• In 1893 Padmanabhan began his career as a teacher in a Government primary school.
• From 1905 he changed his profession and started practising law.
• In 1914 he established the Nair Service Society.
• His main ambition was to uplift the status of the Nair community.
• From 1915 he  became full-time secretary of the Nair Service Society.
• In 1924 he took part in the Vaikom Satyagraha.
• On November 1, 1924 to support Vaikom Satyagraha, Savarna procession was set out from Vaikom to Trivandrum under the leadership of Mannathu Padmanabhan.
• In 1947 he became a member of the Indian National Congress.
• In 1949 Padmanabhan became a member of the Travancore Legislative Assembly.
• He was honoured with the title Bharata Kesariby by the President of India.
• Sardar K M Panicker called him ‘Madan Mohan Malavya of Kerala’.
• Mannathu Padmanabhan was the person related to Muthukulam speech of 1947
• He also received Padma Bhushan in 1966.
• He died on February 25, 1970 at the age of 93.
• Mannam memorial is located at NSS Headquarters Changanacherry.
• ‘Reminiscences of my life’ is the English translation of autobiography of Mannathu Padmanabhan.