Kalki (writer)
Kalki (Ra. Krishnamurthy) (September 9, 1899 - December 5, 1954) was an author who wrote some of the most popular fantasy stories in Tamil for the public. Kalki was a creator who emerged from the Indian National Movement as a Freedom Fighter. He was also the pioneer of the Tamil music movement and Tamil journalism. He was instrumental in the creation of Tamil prose. Historical fantasy novels such as Ponnin Selvan, Sivagamiyin Sabatham written by Kalki are considered to be the greatest classics in the Tamil literature. Kalki was the founder of Kalki . He is known as the founder of fun centric reading and writing in Tamil.
Biography
Birth, Education
Kalki was born on September 9, 1899 in Puthamangalam near Mayiladuthurai in the old Thanjavur district. His father was Ramasamy Iyer and his mother was Thayyal Nayagi. After completing his primary schooling in his village, he attended Mayuram Municipal High School. He then joined Trichy National High School. He did not complete his schooling as he joined the national movement at an early age and joined the freedom struggle.
Private life
Kalki married Rukmini in 1924. He had a son (Rajendran) and a daughter (Anandi). Kalki was involved in the freedom struggle. He worked as a journalist for Thiru.V. Kalyanasundaram 's Navasakthi magazine and later for Ananda Vikatan. He successfully started a magazine under his own name – Kalki
Political career
Kalki had a long political career. When Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921, he was inspired by his ideas and joined the Indian National Congress. He took part in the freedom struggle in 1922 and was sentenced to one year of imprisonment. After he was released, he joined the Tamil Nadu Congress Party headquartered at Trichy. He worked in the Khadar office in Erode for some time. In 1923 he worked as an co-editor of the magazine Navasakthi run by Thiru.V. Kalyanasundaram. In Tiruchengode Rajaji inaugurated the Gandhi Ashram on February 6, 1925 and started the magazine ‘Vimochanam’. Kalki went to Tiruchengode and stayed with Rajaji where he then lead Vimochanam magazine. Kalki accepted Rajaji as his political guide. He followed Rajaji’s political views and stayed with him till his death. He was known as Rajaji's Sword. In 1930, he participated the Salt Satyagraha led by Rajaji and was imprisoned at Gobichettipalayam for violating the Salt Act of 1882. He was imprisoned for six months. When Gandhi declared the Quit India movement in 1940, he resigned his job as editor in Ananda Vikatan magazine and joined the struggle. He was sentenced to three months of rigorous imprisonment.
Journalism
Kalki was a relentless journalist since 1923. He worked as the co editor of Thiru.V. Kalyanasundaram's Navasakthi magazine. In 1931 he became the co editor of the Ananda Vikatan magazine started by S.S. Vasan. Kalki made Ananda Vikatan a successful public magazine. Ananda Vikatan magazine made pleasure reading as a campaign in Tamil culture and as a successful business. Kalki developed a simple style of humor and satire suitable for the general readers. He made a lineage of writers like Devan, Thumilan, who followed his style of writing. He started journalistic writing in many fields, including film criticism and political criticism.
Kalki started the magazine Kalki in 1941 with the help of his friend Sathasivam, the reason being that S.S. Vasan denounced Kalki’s involvement in the Quit India Movement and actions against the government. Rajaji's blessed Kalki for his venture into Kalki magazine. It became a very successful magazine due to the historical adventure series he wrote in the Kalki magazine, Parthiban Kanavu. Kalki then published a series of famous novels, Sivagamiyin Sabatham and Ponniyin Selvan.
Kalki introduced many writers with new style of writing which differed his style. Mayavi, P.M. Kannan were a few to be noted.Na. Parthasarathy (Manivannan) was also the descendent of Kalki who followed the writing style of V.S. Khandekar and M.Varadarasan. Kalki was a pioneer in Tamil journalism and Tamil fiction.
Literary life
Kalki abridged and translated autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi which he wrote continuously from 1925 to 1929 in Navjeevan, and published in Navasakthi. He also wrote stories for Navasakthi. When the magazine 'Ananda Vikatan' was launched ,a friend of Subramania Bharathiar, Parali S.Nellaiyappar introduced Kalki to S.S. Vasan in February 1928, . Kalki wrote a humorous article titled 'Ettikku Potti' Ananda Vikatan . This was the first article written by Krishnamurthy under the pseudonym Kalki. A subsequent collection of essays entitled 'Ettikku Potti' was published in 1927 with an introduction by Rajagopalachari.
At the age of 23, Kalki wrote the novel 'Vimala' while in prison for involving himself in the Non-Cooperation Movement. It is about a young man imprisoned for his involvement in the Non-Cooperation Movement which is of a biographical redention. This novel was published as a series in 1923 by V. Ramasamy Iyerngar (Va. Ra) in his magizine ‘Susindran’, which was penned under the name Ra. Krishnamurthy.
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