Born T Abdurahman (1908-1972) at Thalankara in Kasargode, T Ubaid was one of the greatest figures of Malayalam literature in the 20th century. He was well versed in English, Malayalam, Arabic, Urdu, Kannada, Sanskrit and Tamil. Often referred to as "Mahakavi Ubaid", he was both a poet and a researcher of "Mappilappattu", documenting a large collection of Mappila songs popular in the North Malabar through oral tradition. His historic speeches and rendering of hitherto unheard "kissa pattukal" at the Kozhikode Sahitya Parishath conference in 1947 and similar conferences drew attention of the intellectuals of Malayalam literature to the rich literary traditions of "Mappilappattu".