N. Krishna Pillai was born on September 22, 1916, at Muthana, a small village near
Varkala,
Travancore (present-day Varkala, north of
Thiruvananthapuram district,
Kerala) to Kakkattu Matom Kesavar Kesavan and Chekalavilakkathuveettil Parvathy Amma. After schooling at schools in
Sivagiri and
Attingal, he studies at Maharaja's College, Thiruvananthapuram, now known as
University College Thiruvananthapuram from where he graduated with
honours in Malayalam in 1938 and started his career as a teacher of Malayalam at Sivagiri Malayalam School. He quit the job in 1940 to pursue research at the
University of Kerala and in 1943, he joined The Madurai Diraviyam Thayumanavar Hindu College as a lecturer but when he received a posting as a lecturer at the University College, the next year, he returned to Thiruvananthapuram to take up the post. Later, he worked in a number of other institutions such as
Government Brennen College, Thalassery as a professor, Intermediate College, Thiruvananthapuram as the principal, and as the professor of Malayalam at the University College. N. Krishna Pillai was married to Azhakattu Saraswathy Kunjamma, the marriage taking place in 1943, and the couple had four daughters, Sahiti, Kala, Madhuri and Nandini, and a son, Hari. Pillai died on July 10, 1988, at
Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, at the age of 71. ==Legacy==