Condolences pour in for Tamil writer Prapanjan, funeral in Pondy on Monday

Palaniswami, in his condolence message, said, “Prapanjan has written several books and his death news saddened me. He had won state awards of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and his death is an irreparable loss to Tamil literature world.”

Prapanjan, the pen name of S Vaidyalingam, was born in 1945 in the erstwhile French Colony, Puducherry. Being a prolific writer, Prapanjan received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book ‘Vaanam Vasapadum,’ in 1995.

‘Mahanadi’, ‘Manidam Vellum,’ ‘Sandhiya’, ‘Appavin Veshti’ are some of his noted works that acclaimed popularity. However, for the last 10 years, Prapanjan was fighting against cancer and passed away after prolonged illness, on Friday. His funeral has beenplanned on Monday in Puducherry.

The entire Tamil literature fraternity and Tamil enthusiasts condoled the death of Prapanjan.

MDMK general secretary Vaiko in his statement, said that after legendary poets Bharathiar and Bharathidasan, Puducherry was made popular by Prapanjan due to his writings.

“He was a Dravidian scholar. He had developed his own style of writing and all his works were based on Puducherry. He raised the standards of Tamil short stories to national level,” said Vaiko.

K Balakrishnan, state secretary of the CPM, in his statement, said that Prapanjan was a legend in the field of Tamil literature for more than 40 years and CPM expresses deep condolences for his death.

S Venkatesan, president, Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, said that Prapanjan had written more than 300 short stories and his works have been consolidated into three parts.

He also wrote in another pen name, Prapanjakavi and published a book on Periyar titled ‘Erode Tamizhar Uyirodu’. The death of Prapanjan who fought against caste and religion and stood for equality of women, is a great loss for writer’s fraternity, said Venkatesan.

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayansamy and several other prominent personalities also expressed their grief over the demise of Prapanjan. Condoling his death, G Sugumaran,secretary, Federation for People’s Rights, also demanded that Prapanjan’s body should be cremated with full state honours, since he has brought laurels to the Union Territory.