Tamil writer and Vedic scholar Swaminatha Athreyan dead

His works include Samartha Ramadas Charitam, a book on Anjaneya temples

Tamil writer and Vedic scholar Swaminatha Athreyan, who delved deep into the keerthanas of Saint Thiyagaraja and translated Tulsi Ramayana into Tamil, died on Thursday at Thanjavur. He was 94.

Athreyan, one of the writers of Manikodi, a trail blazer in the modern Tamil literature, recreated specific incidents in the life of Thiyagaraja as short stories, that gave birth to different compositions.

The collection was later published as Thiyagaraja Anubhavangal.

A close friend of Tamil writers T. Janakiraman and Karichan Kunchu, Athreyan had written a total of 28 such stories over the years, but only 12 of these survive now.

Ku.Pa. Rajagopalan encouraged him to write and his stories were published in literary journals such as Manikodi, Kanaiyazhi. 

Athreyan once said that he could get a glimpse of Thiyagaraja’s mind after listening to Umayalpuram Swaminatha Bhagavatar during his student days in Kumbakonam.

His other works include Samartha Ramadas Charitam, a two-volume book on Anjaneya temples in the country.