K. M. Panikkar

Sardar
K. M. Panikkar
Ambassador of India to France
In office
1956–1959
Preceded byHardit Malik
Succeeded byN. Raghavan
Ambassador of India to Egypt
In office
1952–1954
Preceded byAsaf Ali Asghar Fyzee
Succeeded byAli Yavar Jung
Ambassador of India to China
In office
20 May 1950 – 12 September 1952
Succeeded byN. Raghavan
Personal details
Born(1895-06-03)3 June 1895
Travancore (Modern day Kerala, India)
Died10 December 1963(1963-12-10) (aged 68)
Mysore, Karnataka, India
Alma materMadras Christian College
University of Oxford
OccupationNovelist, journalist, historian, administrator, diplomat

Kavalam Madhava Panikkar (3 June 1895 – 10 December 1963),[1][2] popularly known as Sardar K. M. Panikkar, was an Indian statesman and diplomat. He was also a professor, newspaper editor, historian and novelist.[3] He was born in Travancore, then a princely state in the British Indian Empire and was educated in Madras and at the University of Oxford.

After a stint as professor at Aligarh Muslim University and later at University of Calcutta, he became editor of Hindustan Times in 1925. Later, he was appointed Secretary to the Chamber of Princes, whence he moved to Patiala State and then to Bikaner State as Foreign Minister and later became the latter's Prime Minister. When India achieved political independence, Sardar Madhava Panikkar represented the country at the 1947 session of the UN General Assembly. In 1950, he was appointed Ambassador of India (the first non-Socialist country to recognise People's Republic of China) to China. After a successful tenure there, he went as Ambassador to Egypt in 1952. He was appointed a member of the States Reorganisation Commission set up in 1953. He was also India's Ambassador to France and a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. He also served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir and the University of Mysore.

  1. ^ Students' Britannica India. Popular Prakashan. 22 April 2018. ISBN 9780852297605 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Kavalam Madhava Panikkar - Indian statesman". 6 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Panikkar, Kavalam Madhava, (1895–10 Dec. 1963), Vice-Chancellor Jammu and Kashmir University, Srinagar, since 1961; Ex-Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha". Who's Who & Who Was Who. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U55219. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1.