Kerala Varma, also known as Mahakavi Pandalam, was an Indian poet, scholar, and publisher who lived from January 1879 to June 1919. He was born in Pandalam and was a member of the Pandalam Royal Family. He received his education at home and later at the hands of monks. He became interested in poetry at an early age and wrote his first poem at the age of 10. By the time he reached puberty, he had composed hundreds of poems and started writing essays on religious topics as well. He continued to write even after entering into a marriage agreement with an older woman named Ammachi on 1 August 1904. The marriage ended in divorce two years later. In 1918, he married another woman named Padmavathi. He had one son and three daughters by his first wife and none by his second. During his lifetime, he published more than 30 books including poems, novels, biographies and treatises on religion. Some of his better-known works are Poems (1904), Essays (1906), Stories (1908), and Plays (1911). He also founded a publishing house called "Varma" and began publishing books written by other poets as well as scholars and authors. He died in June 1919 at the young age of 36.