Ki. Rajanarayanan, Sahitya Academy award winner

Ki. Rajanarayanan (Kammavar from Kovilpatti) popularly known by Tamil initials as Ki. Ra., is a Tamil folklorist and author from India.

Ki. Ra.'s first published short story was Mayamaan (lit. The Magical Deer), which came out in 1958. It was an immediate success. It was followed by many more short stories. Ki Ra's stories are usually based in karisal kaadu (scorched, drought stricken land around Kovilpatti ). He centers his stories around Karisal country's people, their lives, beliefs, struggles and folklore. The novels Gopalla Grammam (lit. Gopalla Village) and its sequel Gopallapurathu Makkal (lit. The People of Gopallapuram) are among his most acclaimed; he won the Sahitya Akademi award for the later in 1991. As a folklorist, Ki. Ra. spent decades collecting folktales from the karisal kaadu and publishing them in popular magazines. In 2007, the Thanjavur based publishing house Annam compiled these folktales into a 944-page book, the Nattuppura Kadhai Kalanjiyam (Collection of Country Tales). As of 2009, he has published around 30 books. A selection of these were translated into English by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and published in 2009 as Where Are You Going, You Monkeys? -- Folktales from Tamil Nadu. Ki. Ra. is well known for his candid treatment of sexual topics, and use of the spoken dialect of Tamil language for his stories (rather than its formal written form). In 2003, his short story 'kidai' was made into a Tamil film titled Oruthi. It was screened in the International Film Festival of India.

Rajanarayanan was born in Idaicheval Chathirapatti village near Kovilpatti in 1922. His full name was "Rayankula Shri Krishna Raja Narayana Perumal Ramanujam Naicker", which he shortened to Ki. Rajanarayanan. He dropped out of school in the seventh standard. He was appointed as a professor of folklore at Pondicherry University in the 1980s. He currently holds the title of Director of Folktales in the university's Documentation and Survey Centre. He was a member of the Communist Party of India and went to prison twice for his participation and support in the CPI organized peasant rebellions during 1947-51.

Comments

Ramm said…

Masarpatti is the village @ 47 miles south of Madurai Tamilnadu is where I come from. Have 2 brothers and my dad lives in the village and we 2 brothers live here in the US and one in Chennai. We have farm lands in Masarpatti. My mother is from Sithayankottai near Dindigul that’s was once in Madurai District, now in Dindigul district. My mom’s mom that’s my grandmother is from Kolakattakurichi near Kadambur, near Idaiseval from where Mr. Ki Rajanarayanan is from! In a way Mr. Ki Ra is related to my grandma! The fascinating thing here is we are in this area of Tamilnadu where in and around 200 to 300 villages where we Kammas are the majority of the population! The soil is primarily Black Cotton Soil and we are mostly agriculturists, growing cotton, red chilies and the like! The novels, the stories, the writings, the narrations that of Mr. Ki Ra is all set to the villages that we hail from here in this part of Tamilnadu! I have been enjoying his works and they bring back alive the way the villages were the people there, their language, their astonishing lives, their day to day affairs in work, in life, their interactions, their great nature overall! Having been in my village during my holidays from school or from my travels nowadays, I have interacted with our folks and hear Mr. Ki Ra’s work come alive! Love our bloggers to ask me any question and I would love to tell them more about our villages, our folks and our people!

Friday, January 11, 2013 11:29:00 PM

Anonymous said…

thanks for the grass root level of information about sri kee ra, last year i read his novel in telugu(translated version) , and i could get the address and phone no. of sri kee ra from my pondy friend (04132251506, qrts no.O4, govt servant qtrs , laws pet, pondy 605008.). Now thru this web site i feel proud because he is our kamma -- ramanaprasad_vv@yahoo.com , from bangalore

Tuesday, September 10, 2013 7:03:00 PM

Day before yesterday (19th September, 2013), book release function of "Gopalle" (Telugu version of Ki. Raa's novel "Gopalla Graamam" took place at Hotel Jairam, Pondicherry. The book was published by Sri Anjaneya Reddy of Hyderabad and translated by Sri Nandyala Narayana Reddy of Hosur, who was guided by Sri Sa. Vem. Ramesh. Dr. Smt. Sagili Sudha Rani, who did extensive research into the lives of Telugus in Tamil Nadu, and her husband Sri Subrahmanyam were instrumental in holding the successful function at Pondicherry which was well attended by the Telugus and Tamils of Pondy. Ki. Raa. Garu was much delighted by the love and respect shown by both the TN and AP people towards him. Ki. Raa. Garu was also informed that it is likely that his ancestors (Rayankulavaaru) hailed from Rayalaseema area of AP. Further research to find out their exact native village/place, is now on. As of now, some villages around Tadipatri like Jammulapalem and Ramapuram Kottaala will be visited shortly by a team of Ki. Raa's admirers. The long cherished wish of the great personality may be fulfilled soon. - SP.

Sunday, September 22, 2013 4:34:00 PM