R. Parthasarathy – Indian poet and translator of English language

Rajagopal Parthasarathy, better known as R. Parthasarathy is an Indian writer, critic and editor of English language. He is an educator, poet, critic as well as translator. His name is taken one among the quartet who laid foundation of Indian English poetry, the other three being Jayanta Mahapatra, A. K. Ramanujan and Nissim Ezekiel. He is a recipient of The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. – A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation for the year1996. Rough Passage and Poetry from Leeds are his poetry collections published in English.

R. Parthasarathy was born in 1934 in Tirupparaiturai near Tiruchchirappalli of Tamil Nadu. He completed his Ph. D from University of Texas in 1987. Since 1960s he has been into teaching profession. His translation of Tamil work Chilappathikaram to English – The Tale of the Anklet: An Epic of South India brought him acclamation. It also earned him Sahitya Academy award for translation in 1995. His first poetry collection Poetry from Leeds was published in 1968.

R. Parthasarathy – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He served as British Council Scholar at Leeds University, UK during 1963-1964.

2. Most of his translation works are from Tamil to English.

3. He was a recipient of Ulka Poetry Prize of Poetry India in 1966.