R Krishnamurthy

R. Krishnamurthy (18 January 1933 – 4 March 2021) was a former editor of the Tamil daily Dinamalar and also a renowned Tamil script epigraphist and numismatist in India. The Royal Numismatic Society in London honoured him by electing him a fellow of the society, in 1998.

He had his schooling at Sethu Lakshmi Bai (SLB) school in Nagercoil and pre-degree education at Scott Christian College, Nagercoil. He later went on to complete his B.Sc. degree in Geology at Alagappa College (later University) in Karaikudi and Master’s degree (in the same subject) from Presidency College, Madras (now Chennai).

Career

Krishnamurthy joined Dinamalar in 1956, which was then headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram. With the reorganisation of states in India, the newspaper shifted its operations to Tirunelveli (in Tamilnadu) in 1957. Eventually, the head office of the newspaper was shifted to Chennai, where he became Editor of the newspaper in 1977.

He was elected General Secretary of the India Newspaper Editors’ Conference in 1991.

Epigraphy

Krishnamurthy introduced the simplified Tamil script, originally proposed by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (Thanthai Periyar), in the Tiruchirappalli edition of his newspaper in 1977. In the course of time, several other Tamil dailies and periodicals introduced this script in their publications. In the late 1970’s, the Government of Tamilnadu adopted it in its school textbooks.

He later made studies on the origins of the Tamil language and script, especially with reference to the ‘Vatteluttu’ script. His findings and research became the basis for three books in Tamil.

Numismatics

Krishnamurthy’s interest in the Tamil script and its origins later kindled his interests in Numismatics, which made him travel across the globe. He was especially interested in the coins minted by the old Tamil kingdoms of the Sangam period – the Chera, Chola and the Pandyas. He discovered various coins of the Tamil Sangam period, which he published in a book titled Sangam Age Tamil Coins. He also studied and published monographs on Roman and Greek coins found in Tamilnadu, around Karur.

Krishnamurthy founded the Tamilnadu Numismatic Society in Chennai, in 1986, and the South Indian Numismatic Society, in 1991.

Awards and honours

The Royal Numismatic Society in London honoured Krishnamurthy by electing him a fellow of the society, in 1998.

In 2015, he was honoured with the Tolkappiyar award by the President of India, for his research work on Tamil.

The Numismatic Society of India awarded him the C.H. Biddulph and T. Desakachari medals.

In 2004, the Madurai Kamaraj University conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa).