A great Malayāḷam poet, Mahākavi Vaḷḷathoḷ Nārāyaṇa Menon (1878-1958) had not received any formal education except training in Sanskrit. Vaḷḷathoḷ is credited with a number of poems.
Apart from his Malayāḷam works, he translated from Sanskrit, the Vālmiki Rāmayaṇam (1905-1907) and the Ṛgveda in metrical form. Four of the Purāṇas, namely, Matsya, Vāmana, Mārkaṇḍeya and Padma were translated. The best available work on Elephantology, called, Mātaṅgalīlā of Nīlakaṇṭha also came out from him in Malayāḷam.
In order to make some of the Sanskrit Dramas accessible to the common people of Kerala, Vaḷḷathoḷ translated the Nāṭakas of Bhāsa and Śākuntalam of Kālidāsa into Malayāḷam. Grāmasaubhāgyam is another work in the list of his translations.
On the occasion of the centenary of his birth, the Posts and Telegraphs Department of India, felt proud to release a commemorative stamp on 15.10.1978 in the denomination of 25P, an FDC and a brochure.
Vaḷḷathoḷ took great efforts to establish the Kerala Kalāmaṇḍalam at Cheruthurutthi (Pālakkād Dt, Kerala) in collaboration with Mukunda Rājā of Maṇakkuḷam in order to revitalise and propagate the art form of Kathakaḷi.
The stamp shows a Kathakaḷi dancer. The FDC depicts the Kūtthambalam (Temple theatre) and the cancellation, the Kathakaḷi mask.
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