Kovalezhi Cheeramputhoor Sankara Paniker (1911–1977) was a metaphysical and abstract painter from Malabar District, India. He interpreted the country's age-old he artists were trying to break out of this Western influence and establish an idiom and identity of their own," he said. In 1976, he was awarded the highest award of the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Art, the for lifetime contribution.