A. S. Gnanasambandan

A. S. Gnanasambandan Biography

A. S. Gnanasambandan is a veteran writer belonging to Tamil literature. He has scripted a few Tamil movies. He is also known as a scholar and literary critic, who began his active career in the 1940s.    Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985 and Sangappalagai Kural Peedam award by Government of Tamil Nadu in 2001 are the major honours received by him. Ravanan, Maatchiyum Veezhchiyum, Kamban Kalai, Thambiyar Iruvar, Ilakkiyak kalai, Kilakkum merkum, Manivasakar, Thatthuvamum Bhakthiyum, Kamban: Putiya Parvai, Thevara Thiruppathikangal and Kural kanda Vazhvu are his published works. He is also addressed as Aa. Sa. Gna.

Born as Arasankudi Saravana Gnanasambandan, he is a native of Arasankudi, Tiruchirapalli district, Tamilnadu. 10 November 1916 is his birth date. His father Aa. Mu. Saravana Mudaliar was a scholar. His mother’s name is Sivakami. He completed his schooling from Lalgudi and joined Annamalai University for intermediate classes. While studying at the university, his proficiency in handling Tamil language was noticed by one of his teachers. Gnanasambandan was doing his physics studies then, and as insisted by the professor he switched over to Tamil literature. After studies he taught Tamil at a college till 1956 for long 14 years.

He published his first book, Ravanan, Maatchiyum Veezhchiyum in 1945 while he was teaching Tamil at Pachaiyappa's College. His second book, Kamban Kalai was published in 1950. His third book Thambiyar Iruvar originally published in 1961 cemented his reputation as a scholar of Kambaramayanam. Since then he published many books till late 1990s. Most of his books belonged to non-fiction genres, and are useful for research students. He had a brief stint with All India Radio during 1956–61, before returning to his teaching career.

Published: September 15, 2018

Updated: September 15, 2018