Attoor Ravi Varma
Born(1930-12-27)27 December 1930
Attoor, Trichur, Kingdom of Cochin
Died26 July 2019(2019-07-26) (aged 88)
Trichur, Kerala, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materZamorin's Guruvayurappan College, Calicut
University College, Trivandrum
Malabar Christian College, Calicut[1]
GenrePoetry, translation
Notable awards

Attoor Ravi Varma (27 December 1930 – 26 July 2019)[1] was an Indian poet and translator of Malayalam literature. One of the pioneers of modern Malayalam poetry, Ravi Varma is a recipient of Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation, besides many other honours. The Government of Kerala honoured him with their highest literary award, the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, in 2012 and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi inducted him as their distinguished fellow in 2017.

Biography

Attoor Ravi Varma was born on 27 December 1930 in Attoor, a small village in Trichur district of the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin (now part of the south Indian state of Kerala) to Krishnan Namboothiri and Ammini Amma.[2] He joined Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College, Calicut for his pre-university course but was expelled from college due to his involvement in left-wing politics.[3] Later, he continued studies at Malabar Christian College before graduating in Malayalam with honours from the University College, Trivandrum.[4] Subsequently, he joined Presidency College, Madras Malayalam department[5] as a faculty where he had the opportunity to be in touch with M. Govindan, the noted writer, which helped him in the studies of Tamil language. He started his career as a teacher in Madras[6] but returned to Kerala to work at Sree Neelakanta Government Sanskrit College Pattambi[7] before joining the Brennen College, Tellicherry where prominent politicians Pinarayi Vijayan and A. K. Balan were his students.[2] Ravi Varma was married to Sree Devi and the couple resided in Trichur.[3][8] Ravi Varma died on 26 July 2019. He was 88 and was undergoing treatment for pneumonia in a private hospital in Trichur.[1]

Legacy

Ravi Varma's poems ignored the metre and used free verse[9] and he was one among the group of poets who pioneered modernism in Malayalam literature.[4] His oeuvre consists of several poems compiled under three anthologies, translation of four novels from Tamil which include two of Sundara Ramaswamy and one of Rajathi Salma,[10] two books of translation of Tamil poetry and an edited work of poems of young writers. It was Ravi Varma who translated the Bhakthi poems on the Malayalam calendar in vattezhuthu script published by Moozhikulam Sala.[11]

Awards and honours

Attoor Ravi Varma received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry for his poetry anthology, Attoor Ravi Varmayute Kavitakal in 1996[12] and he received the Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram in 1997,[13] the same year as he received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation for Oru Pulimarathinte Katha,[14] his translation of the debut novel by Sundara Ramaswamy.[15] The Sahitya Akademi chose the anthology, Attoor Ravi Varmayute Kavitakal, for their annual award in 2001[16] and the second part of Attoor Ravi Varmayute Kavitakal fetched him the P. Kunhiraman Nair Award in 2005.[17] The Government of Kerala honoured Ravi Varma with their highest literary award of Ezhuthachan Award in 2012[18][19] and three years later, he received the 2015 Vani Samnvay Distinguished Translator Award.[20][21][22] The Kerala Sahitya Akademi inducted him as a distinguished fellow in 2017.[23][24] He is also a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize by Kendra Sahitya Akademi,[25] Premji Award,[26] E. K. Divakaran Potti Award,[26] Deviprasadam Trust Award (2010),[27] and Mahakavi Pandalam Kerala Varma Kavitha Award.[4] Maruvili is a documentary film made on the life and work of Ravi Varma, directed by Anvar Ali.[28][29]

Bibliography

Poetry

Translation from Tamil to Malayalam

Edited poems

References

  1. ^ a b c "Poet Attur Ravi Varma passes away". Chennai: The Hindu. July 26, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  2. ^ a b കെ വിശ്വനാഥ്, ആറ്റൂര്‍ രവിവര്‍മ. "കവിക്കും റിട്ടയര്‍മെന്റുണ്ട്; പക്ഷേ മനസ്സില്‍ കവിത വന്നുകൊണ്ടേ ഇരിക്കും". Mathrubhumi. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b "സഹ്യനൊപ്പം തലപ്പൊക്കമുള്ള ആറ്റൂർ കവിതകൾ". ManoramaOnline (in Malayalam). Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "Attoor Ravi Varma - Veethi profile". veethi.com. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  5. ^ ലേഖകന്‍, സ്വന്തം. "ആറ്റിക്കുറുക്കിയ കവിതകളുടെ ആറ്റൂര്‍". Mathrubhumi. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  6. ^ "ആറ്റിക്കുറുക്കിയ കവിതകളുടെ ആറ്റൂര്‍..." www.asianetnews.com. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Back Matter". Journal of South Asian Literature. 15 (2). 1980. JSTOR 40861198.
  8. ^ "A nostalgic journey into Thrissur's past". The Hindu. 15 February 2003. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  9. ^ Amaresh Datta (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti. Sahitya Akademi. pp. 1326–. ISBN 978-81-260-1194-0.
  10. ^ "Contemporary social novel". The Hindu. 8 February 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  11. ^ Staff Reporter (4 August 2011). "Malayalam calendar with new features". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  12. ^ "Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry". Kerala Sahitya Akademi. 6 April 2019. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  13. ^ "Asan Puraskaram - list of awardees". asaneducation.com. 7 April 2019. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  14. ^ "oru pulimarathinte katha". keralaliterature.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  15. ^ "Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation". Kerala Sahitya Akademi. 7 April 2019. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Kendra Sahitya Academy Awards (Malayalam)". Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala. Archived from the original on 24 May 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  17. ^ "Winners list of P. Kunhiraman Nair Award". www.keralaculture.org. 7 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Ezhuthachan award for Attur Ravi Varma". The Hindu. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  19. ^ Aarif, Shabnam (22 November 2012). "എഴുത്തച്ഛന്‍ പുരസ്‌കാരം ആറ്റൂര്‍ രവിവര്‍മ്മയ്‌ക്ക്". malayalam.oneindia.com (in Malayalam). Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  20. ^ "Attoor Ravi Varma Wins The Debut Vani-Samanvay Distinguished Translator Award". www.cityairnews.com. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  21. ^ "Award Winner - Attoor Ravivarma". ILF Samanvay 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  22. ^ "Vani Foundation". www.vanifoundation.org. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  23. ^ "K N Panikkar, Attoor Ravi Varma bag Kerala Sahitya Akademi fellowships". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  24. ^ "Kerala Sahitya Akademi awards announced". The Hindu. 24 January 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  25. ^ Basu, Bubla. "A gush of poetry and paeans in documentary on Malayalam writer Attoor Ravi Varma". Scroll.in. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  26. ^ a b "Ezhuthachan Puraskaram for Attoor". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  27. ^ "Awards, Trusts and Scholarships: 2. Deviprasaadam Trust". Namboothiri.com. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  28. ^ "Maruvili: A picture of Attoor Ravivarma's poetic word". Times of India Blog. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  29. ^ "Attoor Ravivarma's poetry is a ticking bomb: Anvar Ali". Times of India Blog. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2019.

External links

Sahitya Akademi Award for Malayalam
Recipients of Ezhuthachan Puraskaram
Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship
Malayalam literature
Authority control databases
Categories