P Narayanan Unny was the keeper of the red grain

Published on : 10 Dec 2025, 6:37 am Listen to this article

P Narayanan Unny, the farmer and conservationist who brought global attention to Navara, Kerala’s rare medicinal rice, passed away on the intervening night of December 11 and 12 at his ancestral home in Karukamanikalam, Chittur. He was sixty-seven.

His death closes a remarkable chapter in the story of traditional rice cultivation in Kerala, for no single individual shaped the destiny of a grain as profoundly as he did. From the quiet banks of the Shokanashini river in Chittur, which forms part of Palakkad’s storied rice bowl, Unny fought a long and patient battle to rescue Navara from the edge of disappearance and return it to a place of dignity in fields, homes, and Ayurvedic traditions.

Navara is not an ordinary crop. It