Sundara Ramaswamy (1931 2005), fondly known as "Su.

Ra" in literary circles, was on

e of the exponents of Tamil modern literature. He edited and published a literar
y magazine called Kalachuvadu. He wrote poetry under the penname "Pasuvayya". Hi
s novels are Oru Puliya Marathin Kathai (Tamarind History), tr, Blake Wentworth,
Penguin 2013, J.J Silakuripukal (J.J: Some Jottings, tr, A.R Venkatachalapathy,
Katha, 2004) and Kuzhanthaigal, Pengal, Aangal (Children, Women, Men), tr, Laks
hmi Holmstrom, Penguin 2013.
Ramaswamy was born on 30 May 1931, in Thazhuviya MahadevarKovil,[1] a village in
Nagercoil). At 20, he began his literary career, translating Thakazhi Sivasanka
ra Pillai's Malayalam novel, Thottiyude Makan into Tamil and writing his first s
hort story, "Muthalum Mudivum", which he published in Pudimaipithan Ninaivu Mala
r. He died on 15 October 2005 (IST) aged 74.
Sundara Ramaswamy was born in 1931 in a village called Thazhuviya Mahadevar Kovi
l, 20 km north of Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. He spent his childhood years in Kotta
yam, Travancore, where his father worked as a Burma Oil agent. Though Tamil was
his native tongue, since he lived in Travancore, he only learned Malayalam in hi
s childhood. His father decided to wind up his business and move to Nagercoil, K
anyakumari in 1939. He continued his school there, but was generally considered
to be a poor student. Kanyakumari then was still a part of Kerala, and not Tamil
Nadu. Hence his education continued in Malayalam.
When he was ten years old, he was attacked by rheumatism, and was sick for the n
ext five or six years. This caused him to be bedridden often, and made him irreg
ular at school. Finally, he discontinued school on the advice of his physician.
He first taught himself the Tamil alphabet at the age of 18. Through his mother,
he was exposed to the vernacular magazine Manikodi, and famous Tamil writers su
ch as Pudumaipithan, Na.Pitchamurthy, C.S.Chellappa, etc. He was particularly in
fluenced by Pudumaipithan.
Sundara Ramaswamy s first attempt at writing was to publish a commemorative volume
for Pudumaipithan in 1951, in which his short story Mudhalum Mudivum was also i
ncluded. His second attempt was his short story Thanneer in the year 1952. He wa
s deeply affected by his father s seeming dictatorship (something he later attribu
ted to his own youth and immaturity), as well as his maternal aunt s poverty-stric
ken life. These two perceptions greatly influenced his writings, at least in the
ir early stages. Around this time, his reading increased to include political, c
ultural and literary ideas of personalities such as Gandhi, E.V.Ramaswamy, Sir A
urobindo, etc. One of these personalities was M. Govindan, who later became a cl
ose friend.
In the early fifties, Sundara Ramaswamy was drawn to leftist politics, and suppo
rted the United Communist Party ardently. He later referred to it as an emotiona
l decision, and one against the authority of his father. He steeped himself in M
arxist literature and discussions with his friends. He also organized the progre
ssive writer s meeting in Nagercoil, and participated in the peace committee organ
ized by the Soviet Union. His early stories appeared in the magazine Shanthi and
Saraswathi the editors T.M.C. Raghunathan and Vijayabhaskaran (respectively) we
re his friends, and also had communist leanings. Though he agreed with some of t
he ideologies of the Marxist movement, he had doubts and suspicions about the so
viet system and Stalin s political outlook.
His affiliation with the communist movement did not last for long however, as he
left the movement after reading Khruschev s address to the CPSU s XXth congress and
the suppression of the Hungarian writer s
revolution. Following this, he began to identify himself with the modern movemen
t, and began to contribute poems to a magazine called Ezhuthu. In the late fifti
es, Sundara Ramaswamy began working on his first novel, Oru Puliyamarathin Katha

i (Tamarind History). The novel was published in 1966, and established him in Ta
mil literary circles. He then began to write literary criticism and articles, al
l of them addressing various issues in Tamil Nadu. In the late seventies, he wro
te another novel J.J:Silakurrippukal (J.J:Some Jottings), which was considered t
o be a departure from tradition in its criticism, and was published in 1981. Thi
s was followed by a book of poetry, Nadunisi Naigal (Midnight Dogs) which was re
leased in 1975. In 1987, he published a second book of poetry, titled Yaaro Oruv
anukkaga (For Some Man).
Sundara Ramaswamy wrote his final novel Kuzhanthaigal, Pengal, Angal(Children, W
omen, Men) in 1995, which is autobiographical and centers on his early life in K
ottayam. Many of his characters were based on childhood memories, and he was abl
e to reassess his father in particular. In his own words, I am glad that I was ab
le to discover his essence, to an extent, through this novel. He received numerou
s awards, with the Kumaran Asan Prize (1988), the Iyal prize (2001) for lifetime
achievement awarded by Toronto University, and the Katha Chaudamani prize (2003
) being the most prominent ones. He died in the United States following fibrosis
of the lungs in 2005. He is survived by a son and two daughters.