A. K. Ramanujan – Indian poet and scholar of English and Kannada

A. K. Ramanujan (1929 – 1993) was a poet and scholar of English and Kannada languages. His name is taken one among the quartet who laid foundation of Indian English poetry, the other three being Jayanta Mahapatra, R. Parthasarathy and Nissim Ezekiel. He was also a researcher of 5 languages, apart from being a philologist, folklorist, translator, and playwright. Padma Shree in 1976, MacArthur Fellowship in 1983 and Sahitya Akademi Award for English poetry posthumously in 1999 are the major honours received by him. The Selected Poems – was awarded Sahitya Akademi Award.

A. K. Ramanujan was born in Mysore as the son of well-known mathematician and astronomer, Attipat Asuri Krishnaswami. Ramanujan completed PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University, and studied science and English during his academic years. After studies, he continued with his research works, taught at different colleges and universities and also authored many books. The Striders, Relations, Selected Poems, Second Sight and The Collected Poems are his published poetry works. He left behind a great legacy of prose, poetry and scholarly works.

A. K. Ramanujan – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. A. K. Ramanujan and poet Jayanta Mahapatra were good friends.

2. He had one brother, A.K. Srinivasan who was a writer and a mathematician.

3. During his academic years, he initially took science stream. However as his father felt that English is best suited for him taste, he changed it after first year.

4. He began his career as a lecturer at Kollam.

5. He has translated many Tamil and Kannada works of classic era to English.

6. His essay “Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation” (written two years before his death) which was included in university syllabus invited some controversies, because he stated that in some versions of Ramayana, Rama and Sita are portrayed as siblings.

7. His full name is Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan.