Renowned Tamil writer and scholar M Lenin Thangappa passed away at the age of 84.
He was born in 1934 in Kurumbalaperi, Tirunelveli district. He pursued a postgraduate degree in Tamil literature and won the Sahitya Akademi Prize in 2012 for his translation of Tamil Sangam poetry.
In 1959, he moved to Puducherry to teach at the Tagore Arts College where he worked as an Assistant Professor. Writing in both Tamil and English, Thangappa won the Sahitya Akademi Award for translation of Love Stands Alone by AR Venkatachalapathy.
Having taught at various colleges in Puducherry, he retired in 1994.
In addition to Sangam era poetry, he has also translated the works of Ramalinga Swamigal, Subramania Bharati and Bharathidasan into English.
His notable works, apart from Love Stands Alone, include Red Lilies and Frightened Birds, a translated collection of poems in praise of the Chera, Chozha and Pandya dynasties. He had also translated Bharathidasan's works in House of Darkness.
Thangappa’s Songs of Grace is a translation of the Thiruvarutpa hymns of Ramalinga Adigal or Vallalar as the 19th century Tamil saint is popularly known.
In 1991, he was presented with the Bharathidasan Award by the Tamil Nadu government and in 2007, he won the Sirpi Literary Award for lifetime achievement in poetry.