Ra. Ki. Rangarajan (1927 – 18 August 2012), popularly known as Ra Ki (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

: ரா.கி.), was a

journalist and prolific author of novels, short stories, essays, translations and other works. Rangarajan wrote under 10 pen names including: Mohini for historical novels, T. Duraisami for family dramas, Surya for youthful romance, Krishnakumar for mysteries, K. Malathi for postal-related stories, Mulri, Vinodh, Hamsa and Avittam for another genres.

Life and works

Rangarajan was born in

Kumbakonam Kumbakonam (formerly spelt as Coombaconum or Combaconum), or Kudanthai, is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the States of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Chennai and is the hea ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

scholar R.V. Krishnamacharya.Ra.Ki. Rangarajan passes away
''India Everyday'', 19 August 2012. Rangarajan began writing at the age of 16 for ''Sakthi'', a literary magazine run by V. Govindan. Later, he worked for another journal ''Kalachakkaram''. He then became associated with the popular Tamil weekly '' Kumudam'' for over four decades (~1950-1990) during which time he became a household name among Tamil readers. He wrote more than 1,500 short stories and over 50 novelsRa. Ki. Rangarajan passes away
B. Kolappan, ''The Hindu'', 19 August 2012 that included several translated works from English such as '' Papillon'' and some

Sidney Sheldon Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) was an American writer. He was prominent in the 1930s, first working on Broadway plays, and then in motion pictures, notably writing the successful comedy '' The Bachelor and the Bobby-Sox ...

and

Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist and former politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth (Lincolnshire) from 1969 to 1974, but did not seek re-election after a fina ...

novels. He was the first person to write a Tamil

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...

(''Naan, Krishna Devarayan'') in

first-person narrative A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar su ...

, inspired by the English novel '' I Claudius''. Rangarajan said he wrote the novel "because not much has been written about Krishna Deva Raya or the

Vijayanagar Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belonging to ...

. He was one of the greatest kings with many dimensions." The novel involved extensive research, including visits to libraries, as well as discussions with historians and artists. Rangarajan stated that he was "an admirer of Kalki Krishnamurthy" and that he "tried to emulate his style."Peppy and prolific
''The Hindu'', 10 March 2011. Rangarajan said his inspirations were

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

, Alexander Dumas and

in English; Kalki Krishnamurthy in Tamil. Some of his stories were made into films, notably including '' Sumai Thaangi''. He died 18 August 2012, at 85 years old. He had two sons and three daughters.

Filmography

*'' Idhu Sathiyam'' (1963) *''

Sumaithaangi ''Sumaithaangi'' () is a 1962 Indian Tamil-language drama film, written and directed by C. V. Sridhar. The film stars Gemini Ganesan, Radha and R. Muthuraman. Based on Ra. Ki. Rangarajan's novel of the same name that was serialised in '' Ku ...

'' (1963) *'' Kairasikkaran'' (1984) *'' Mahanadhi'' (1994)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rangarajan, Ra. Ki. Tamil writers Tamil-language writers 1927 births 2012 deaths Writers from Thanjavur district