An Unquiet Intellect

Narayani Basu's biography of KM Panikkar rescues a formidable, flawed and fascinating intellect—one who shaped India's diplomacy, ideas and princely politics across a transformative century

- SANJEEV CHOPRA

KM Panikkar with Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and Zhou Enlai

KM Panikkar (KMP) could not have asked for a better Boswell to document his life, for Narayani Basu has dug into details that even KMP may have forgotten in his very rich, eventful and variegated life from 1894 to 1963—a period that saw him move from the backwaters of Travancore to a salient role in India's foreign and domestic policy as the country's first ambassador to both Nationalist and Communist China, and as a key member of the States Reorganisation Committee (SRC), which marked the restructuring of the internal boundaries of independent India.

Narayani Basu's biography, A Man for All Seasons: The Life of K. M. Panikkar, could just as well have been titled A Man with All the Reasons. It is indeed a comprehensive account of one of India's most multifaceted, controversial and sometimes misunderstood men of many parts: a polyglot scholar, diplomat, maritime historian, Malayalam litterateur, journalist, Gandhi's emissary, Dewan to princes, and a man with a roving eye. Ms Basu takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride across the diverse "avatars" of Panikkar's life.

We begin with his childhood in Kavala, detailing his family's traditional background and the early intellectual environment that shaped his pluralistic worldview. His earliest and fondest memories are of his grandmother, Kunjipilla Gowri—a gentle, lovable woman who adored her Madhava, read him stories from the Ramayan and Mahabharat, and instilled in him a love for Malayalam. Early attempts at teaching him arithmetic under the tutelage of his uncle Ayappa Panikkar failed miserably; he was often tied to a pillar for youthful pranks that included writing odes to young village belles.