Interestingly, he has also been described as a “bard of science” who explores the role of science in achieving the human potential. Indeed, one often speaks of the influence of Tagore and Gandhi on the humanism and nationalism of Kurup. He also translated the Rubaiyat (1932) of Omar Khayyam, the Sanskrit poem Meghaduta (1944) of Kalidas, and the collection of poems Gitanjali (1959) of Rabindranath Tagore into Malayalam. Apart from 25 collections of poetry, Kurup also wrote verse dramas and collections of literary essays - in all about 40 works in Malayalam. Kurup published his first poem, called Salutation to Nature in 1918, while still a student. He worked as the Malayalam Pandit in Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, and retired as Professor of Malayalam from the College in 1956. Later he became a teacher in the Government Secondary Teacher Training Institute near Trichur.
After completing his education, Kurup worked as the Malayalam teacher in a secondary school in Thiruvillwamala in 1921. He was also the recipient of the Soviet Land Nehru Award, in 1967, and the Padma Bhushan in 1968. With part of the prize money he established the literary award Odakkuzhal in 1968.
He won the prize in 1965 for his collection of poems in Malayalam Odakkuzhal (The bamboo flute, 1950). G Sankara kurup (born June 3, 1901, Nayathode, Kerala, India - February 2, 1978, Trivandrum, Kerala), better known as Mahakavi G (The Great Poet G), was the first winner of the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary award.