About the Poet
Mahakavi Moyinkutty Vaidyar (1852-1892) was born in 1852 at Kondotty. His father was Unni Mammad Vaidyar and Mother Kunhamina. His family name is ottuparakkuzhi Alungakkandi. This family is a traditional Vaidyar Family Whose descendents at Kondotty and many other places even today are earning their livilihood through traditional Ayurvedic treatment. His grandfather Unni Moyin vaidyar was an expert in the field of Ayurvedic medicine and treatment. Unni Moyin had three sons. Amongst them Unni Mammed was the eldest. He married Kunhamina and Mahakavi Moyinkutty Vaidyar was their eldest son.
Unni Mammed and his family members acted as the personal physicians of Kondotty Tangal family. Moyinkutty as a boy used to accompany his father to Takiya (the headquarters of Kondotty Tangals). From the very begining of his boyhood Moyinkutty began to compose verses and sing songs. Once the reigning Tangal, Sheikh Ishthiyak Shah happend to hear such a verse. He was highly impressed by Moyinkutty’s song and blessed him. The great Tangal personally congratulated him. The Tangal says: Moyinkutty, compose verses and recite at my presence every day after evening prayer(Asar ); if I die you do the same everyday at my graveyard”.
Perhaps, this was the begning of Moyinkutty’s poetic composition. He never turned back and poetic composition became a passion to the young poet. The result was the composition of great classical works in Arabi-Malayalam language such as Badarul Muneer Husnul jamal(1872), Badarul Kubra(1876 ), Uhud Padappattu(1878), Malappuram Padappattu(1883), and he partly composed the last great work Hijra(1892) which was completed by his father Unnimammed after Moyinkutty’s death in 1892 at the age of 40. Besides these works, Moyinkutty Vaidyar composed a large number of poems depicting various aspects of life and struggle. Most of these single compositions fell in to oblivion owing to the negligence and carelessness of his contemperaries. A few of them were preserved in the memories of the previous generation and scholars like K.K. Muhamed Abdul Kareem copied it from the oral traditions.
-see article: Moyinkutty Vaidyarude Adyakala Rajanakal(earliest composition of Moyinkutty Vaidyar by K.K. Muhamed Abdul Kareem)