His 1889 work, "Indulekha", was the first Malayalam fictional work which met with all the requisite characteristics of a novel according to widely accepted Malayalam literary convention. It is not the first novel per se, as "Kundalatha" (a much inferior work) by Appu Nedungadi pre-dates it by two years. "Indulekha" throws light on the Nair community during the second half of the nineteenth century when it was undergoing a transformation following western influences and English education. It exalts education and satirizes the orthodox practices of marital alliances between Nair women and Namboodiri men. "Indulekha" was translated into English 1891 by the-then Collector of Malabar district. Indulekha is claimed to be the only Malayalam novel to be reprinted every year for over hundred years.