Ki. Rajanarayanan

Rayala Shri Krishna Raja Narayana Perumal Ramanujam Naicker (16 September 1923 – 17 May 2021 ), shortened to Ki. Rajanarayanan and popularly known by his Tamil initials as Ki. Ra., was an Indian Tamil language folklorist and writer from Kovilpatti, in Tamil Nadu. Some of his popular works include Gopalla Gramam , Gopallapurathu Makkal , Mayamaan , and Nattuppura Kadhai Kalanjiyam . He was a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1991.The Times of India called him the "Guardian of Tamil oral tradition".

Early life Rajanarayanan was born on 16 September 1923 in the village of Idaiseval near Kovilpatti in present-day Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu. He was the fifth child of Lakshmi Ammal and Shri Krishna Ramanujam. He was also named in the Nellai Conspiracy Case of 1952, though the charges were later dropped. It was followed by many more short stories. Ki. Ra.'s stories were usually based in karisal kaadu around his native region of Kovilpatti. The stories are usually centered around Karisal country's people, their lives, beliefs, struggles and folklore. Gopalla Grammam and its sequel Gopallapurathu Makkal were among his novels. They present the stories of multiple people living in a village in south India before the arrival of the British. It involves the migration of the Telugu people escaping brutal kingdoms north of Tamil Nadu. These books were followed by Andaman Naicker.

He was appointed a professor of folklore at Pondicherry University in the 1980s. He held the title of Director of Folktales in the university's Documentation and Survey Centre. He was a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Gopallapurathu Makkal in 1991. Between 1998 and 2002 he also served in the general council and the advisory board of the Sahitya Akademi. In November of that year his short story kidai was made into a Tamil film entitled Oruththi and was screened at the International Film Festival of India.

In 2007, the Thanjavur-based publishing house Annam compiled these folktales into a 944-page book, the Nattuppura Kadhai Kalanjiyam . As of 2009, he had published approximately 30 books. A selection of these books were translated into English by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and published in 2009 as Where Are You Going, You Monkeys? – Folktales from Tamil Nadu. Ki. Ra. was also well known for his candid treatment of sexual topics, and use of the spoken dialect of Tamil for his stories, rather than its formal written form.

Musical Adaptations As a tribute to honor Ki.Ra, the folk song mentioned in the novel Gopalla Gramam was set to music for the first time by composer Raleigh Rajan. The song is referenced as about 500 years old and was sung by the original settlers of Kovilpatti area. Ki.Ra meticulously collected the lyrics of the song and included in the novel. This tribute was Sung by Sung by Ananya Bhat, Rajalakshmi Senthil, Raleigh Rajan and Priya Krish.

Awards and recognition 1971Tamil valarchi araichi mandram award 1979Ilakkiya chinthanai award 1990Santhome International Christian Society Best Writer Award 1991Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Gopallapurarthu Makkal 2008M.A. Chidambaram award 2016Literary achievement special award from The Tamil Literary Garden.