Chennai, March 14 -- Popular Tamil poet and acclaimed film lyricist Vairamuthu has been conferred the Jnanpith Award, the pinnacle of honour (also considered as Nobel Prize) for Indian literature.
The 72-year-old author of nearly 40 books, including 'Kavirajan Kathai', a poetic work on freedom fighter and modernist Tamil poet C Subramaniya Bharathi, as well as travelogues and translations, is this third literary personality from Tamil Nadu to be chosen for this honour after novelists Akilan @ Akilandam and Jayakanthan.
Hailing from Vadugapatti village in Theni district, he was born on July 13, 1953 to Ramasamy and Angammal, a family engaged in agriculture. His debut as a film lyricist was with the hugely popular number 'Ithu oru ponmaalai...