Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri is a poet and figure in Malayalam literature. He was born on June 2, 1939 in Seeravally Illam in Thiruvalla. He acquired a Master's degree in English. He was an English teacher at colleges in Kozhikode, Kollam, Pattambi, Ernakulam, Tripunithura, Chittur and Thiruvananthapuram and also worked in the State Institute of Languages. Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri hails from a renowned Namboodiri family of Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta District, Kerala. Born on 2 June 1939 as the only child of late Vishnu Namboodiri and late Aditi Antharjanam of Sheeravalli Illam, situated on the banks of one of the small rivulets joining Pampa, he had his schooling in the Prince Marthanda Varma High School, Thiruvalla. Having been born and brought up in the traditional Namboodiri atmosphere, his young mind had imbibed Vedic and religious cultures in the childhood itself from his father and grand father. Like other Brahmin boys he had his formal initiation into the Vedic learning at the age of eight. But it was his father’s uncle, Dwivedi Vishnu Sharma, an old man who had travelled the length and breadth of India and an acknowledged scholar in Sanskrit and the Vedas in those days, who gave him an in-depth insight into the Vedic Learning. In fact, Vishnu respectfully acknowledges him as his Guru. He had his first lessons in Sanskrit from his grandfather. His distinctly progressive and rational views on social customs and religious boundaries that were prevalent at those times profoundly inspired the young mind, which later on grew in stature and enriched the Malayalam literature with 13 volumes of poetry, three books on literary criticism, four anthologies and three translations.  He received Padma Shri Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in 2014.