Kalki Krishnamurthy

Early life

Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy was born in a Poor Tamil Brahmin Iyer family on 9 September 1899 in Puthamangalam, near Manalmedu, in Mayiladuthurai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Krishnamurthy's father was Ramaswamy Aiyar, an accountant in Puttamangalam village in the old Tanjore district of erstwhile Madras Presidency. He began his primary education in his village school and later attended Municipal High School in Mayiladuthurai but quit in 1921, just short of completion of his Senior School Leaving Certificate, in response to Mahatma Gandhi's 1921 call for non-co-operation joining the Indian National Congress instead.

His son Kalki Rajendran was married to Sadasivam's daughter Vijaya. Krishnamurthy's daughter Anandi was married to Sadasivam's nephew (sister's son) Ramachandran, known as Ambi in music circles. Anandi's daughter Gowri Ramanarayanan was a music critic for The Hindu newspaper, and she also learned music under M S Subbulakshmi.

Literary work

Krishnamurthy started writing fiction stories in Navaskthi in 1923 where he worked as a sub editor. He was working under the tutelage of Thiru Vi Ka when he published his first book(Kalvanin Kadhali)in 1937. He started working with C Rajagopalachari in Thiruchengode in Gandhi Ashram. He published Vimochanam along with Rajaji, a journal propagating liquor prohibition. He was working in freedom struggle and during 1931, he was jailed for six months. He joined Ananda Vikatan, a popular Tamil magazine along with editor S S Vasan. He became very popular as a critic, witty author, political commentator and short story writer. He wrote under various pen names like "Kalki", "Ra. Ki", "Tamil Theni" and "Karnatkam". He left Ananda Vikatan and joined freedom struggle in 1941. On his release, he and Sadasivam started a weekly named Kalki. He was the editor in the journal till his death on 5 December 1954.

Works

Historical novels

Social novels (Tamil)

• Kalvanin Kadhali (1937)
• Thyaga Bhoomi (1938–1939)
• Magudapathi (1942)
• Abalayin kaneer (1947)
• Alai Osai (1948)
• Devagiyin Kanavan (1950)
• Mohini Theevu (1950)
• Poiman Karadu (1951)
• Punnaivanathu Puli (1952)
• Amara Thara (1954)

Short stories

Critical work

Krishnamurthy was also a film and music critic, writing under the pseudonym "Karnatkam". He also penned lyrics for many songs, most of which were adapted into Carnatic Music.

• In 1899, R. Krishnamurthy (Kalki) was born at Puthamangalam in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. His father's name is Ramaswamy Aiyar and his mother's name is Thaiyal Nayagi. The name Kalki was his pen name.
• In 1917, he started his school cachy.
• In 1921, he joined Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation moing his scher.
• In 1922, he faced imprisonment for participating in the freedom struggle. He spent one year in jail. He got the friendship of Sadand C. Rajagopalachari(Rajaji).
• In 1923, he joined as a sub-editor in Thiru. Vi. Ka's 'Navasakthi', a Tamil magazine.
• In 1924, he got married to Rukmini (also spelled Rukmini). He later settled in Chennai.
• In 1927, he wrote a shadhaiyin Thanthiram'.
• In 1928, he resigned from teditor in 'Navasakthi'.
• In 1929, he joined Rajaji's 'Vimochanam', a Tamil journal.
• In 1930, he faced imprisonment for the second time for six months.
• In 1931, he joined as an editor in the magazine Ananda Vikatan.
• In 1937, he wrote his first novel 'Kalvanin Kadhali' and published it in Ananda Vikatan.
• In 1939, he wrote his first screenplay for the Tamil movie 'Thayaga Boomi'. The film attained a huge success even though it was banned by the British Government (Actually this movie was based on Kalki's novel named "Thayaga Boomi".)
• In 1941, he started his own magazine Kalki (magazine) after he left Ananda Vikatan. He was arrested for the third time and spent three months in jail. His first historical novel Parthiban Kanavu was also published in the same year.
• In 1944, he wrote Sivagamiyin Sapatham.
• In 1945, he wrote lyrics for the Tamil movie Meera (1945 film).
• In 1948, he wrote the novel 'Alai Osai' for which he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award posthumously.
• In 1950, he started to write the historical novel Ponniyin Selvan and published it in his own magazine Kalki (magazine). He finished the novel nearly after a period of three years and six months. He visited Sri Lanka three times to learn some information to write this novel.
• In 1954, R. Krishnamurthy (also known as Kalki) died. redundant --

Honours

• The release of a postage stamp in honour of Krishnamurthy was among the highlights of the centenary celebrations. Government of Tamil Nadu announced the nationalisation of Krishnamurthy‘s works, this will enable publishers to produce reprints of his works.
• Krishnamuthy had the Sangeetha Kalasikhamani award conferred on him by The Indian Fine Arts Society in 1953.

Death

Krishnamurthy died in Chennai on 5 December 1954 aged 55 years from tuberculosis. Kalki magazine's special issue for Annai Sarada Devi, dated the day Krishnamurthy died, was his last editorial work. The magazine shared the information that his health was improving prior to his demise.

Legacy

Various individuals including veteran actor, director, philanthropist and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. G. Ramachandran; actor, director and politician, Kamal Haasan; and director Mani Ratnam, have tried to adapt Krishnamurthy's novel Ponniyin Selvan, into a film at various stages, but only Mani Ratnam has succeeded so far. The first part of Mani Ratnam's two-part film was released on 30 September 2022 as Ponniyin Selvan: I, and second part was released on 28 April 2023 as Ponniyin Selvan: II.

Biographies of Kalki

• Ponniyin Puthalvar by Sunda
• Amarar Kalki
• Oray Roja

References

References

1. Room, Adrian. (2010). "Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 assumed names and their origins". Macfarland.
2. (9 October 1999). "Renaissance man". The Hindu group.
3. "Kalki – the man behind the legend: An intimate portrait by his daughter K. Anandhi". Indias-Best.Com Pvt Ltd.
4. (21 January 2018). "The surprise that stayed the course – Sruti « Madras Musings | We Care for Madras that is Chennai".
5. Pandey, Dr. Mamta. (2010). "The great Indian novelists". Kusal Pustak Sansar.
6. [http://www.chennaimath.org/category/media/magazines/sri-ramakrishna-vijayam Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam December 2014 page 36,37]
7. (1999). "Poṉṉiyiṉ putalvar". Vāṉati Patippakam.
8. (22 April 2013). "Third edition biography on Kalki released". [[The New Indian Express]].