Puviyarasu | |
|---|---|
| Born | S. Jagannathan 1930 |
| Died | (aged 96) Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Education | Government Arts College, Coimbatore |
| Occupations | Poet, translator |
| Spouse | Mrs.Jegadhambal |
| Children | 1 son and 2 daughers. |
| Writing career | |
| Pen name | Puviyarasu |
| Language | Tamil |
| Subject | Literature |
| Notable awards | Sahitya Akademi Award (2009) |
Puviarasu (or Puviyarasu; 1930 – 30 June 2026) was an was a Sahitya Akademi Award winning Tamil poet and translator from Tamil Nadu.
Puviyarasu was born in a Lingavanayakkanputhur village near Udumalpet in 1930. His birth name was S. Jagannathan. Puviyarasu is the Tamil translation of the Sanskritic "Jagannathan". His family moved to and settled in Coimbatore. He obtained his intermediate degree from Government Arts College, Coimbatore and his Tamil Vidwan degree from Thavathiru Santhalinga Adigalar Arts,Science and Tamil College, Perur. He worked as a Tamil teacher for more than thirty years. He was married to Jagadambal. He had a son(deceased) and two daughters.
Puviyarasu first started publishing in 1952. He was a Marxist by political orientation and was an opponent of Dravidian parties. He was imprisoned for his participation in agitations for making Tamil the administrative language of Tamil Nadu and the border agitations. He was one of the founders of the short-lived Vanambadi literary movement. In his literary career he published more than 80 books. He also translated the works of Shakespeare, Khalil Gibran, Omar Khayyam, Osho, Dostoevsky and Rabindranath Tagore into Tamil. Some of his poems have been translated into English, Russian, Hungarian, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and Sinhalese. In 2007 he won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for his poem Puratchikaaran – translation of Kazi Nazrul Islam's The Revolutionary. In 2010, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his poetry collection Kaioppam (lit. The Signature). The charitable trust Puviyarasu Tamil Valarchi Mayyam (started for training Tamil teachers properly) has been named after him. He lived in Coimbatore.
Puviarasu died on 30 June 2026 due age-related ailments at his home in the age of 96. He was laid to rest with full Tamilnadu state honours.
His books are available as ebooks.