Venkat Raman (Indian Newslink)
Auckland, February 11, 2018
Well-known Tamil Scholar and laureate Radhakrishnan Manivannan passed away in Texas, USA, on January 19, 2018.
He was 80-years old and left behind his wife (a retired officer of Reserve Bank of India), daughter Sujatha Purushotham, sons Hari Kumar and Madhusudhanan and six grandchildren.
A retired Vigilance Assessor of the Chennai Corporation, Mr Manivannan was respected for his transparency and clean and personalised service to common people.
Sujatha Purushotham and Harikumar Manivannan live in New Zealand with their families, while Madhusudhanan and his family live in Texas, USA.
Auckland based Muthamil Sangam members will remember Purushotham Madanagopal (employed at Rutherford) as a former President and Sujatha as the first Tamil School Coordinator of the Association.
Honoured intellectual
A double postgraduate (MA) in English and Tamil and a graduate in Law (LLB), Mr Manivannan was respected and followed for his proficiency in ‘Purananuru,’ ‘Kamba Ramayanam,’ ‘Thirukkural,’ ‘Silappatikaram’ and ‘Nalayira Divya Prabandham,’ each of which is a treasure of Tamil literature.
He also had sound knowledge of Shakespeare’s works and mythological epics and legends in Tamil and English.
His love for Tamil drew him to yester-year and contemporary scholars and literary personalities including Dr Krishnaswamy Mudaliar, Ki Va Jagannathan, Perumbudur Kumaravadivel Jeer Swamigal, Bakkiam Ramaswamy, Dr K K Bhat and his childhood friend and former University of Madras Registrar Elaya Perumal.
Love for Tamil
Fondly addressed as ‘Arivu Chudar’ (‘Ray of Knowledge’) by the police fraternity who worked with him, Mr Manivannan has presented papers at the National English Conference in India and World Tamil Conference. He was a Visiting Lecturer at Nagpur University and tutored students of Tamil at in Pachaiyappa’s College, Chennai.
Vishnu Devotee
Mr Manivannan was a devout Vaishanavite and was the Vice-President of ‘Vainava Peravai’ (‘Vaishanava Federation.’)
He was the driving force behind the construction of the ‘Ramanujar Arch’ in Sri Perumbudur (a town, about 40 kms from Chennai, known as the birthplace of Ramanuja, an exponent of Vaishnavism and the place where Raji Gandhi was assassinated).
He has numerous publications in Tamil and English to his credit, of which ‘Bhakti of Alwars’ published in 2011 was widely appreciated.
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Photo Caption:
Radhakrishnan Manivannan
(Picture Supplied)
