John Ralston Marr | |
---|---|
Born | United Kingdom | 5 July 1927
Died | 19 May 2022 United Kingdom | (aged 94)
Occupation(s) | Writer Indologist |
Known for | Tamil Studies |
Awards |
Padma Shri Kural Peedam Award |
John Ralston Marr (5 July 1927 – 19 May 2022) was a British Indologist, writer and a member of faculty at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. [1] He is known as a scholar of Carnatic music and Tamil literature [2] and is the author of several publications [3] including An introduction to colloquial Tamil, [4] The Pĕriya purāṇam frieze at Tārācuram : episodes in the lives of the Tamil Śaiva saints, [5] The eight Tamil anthologies, with special reference to Pur̲anān̲ūr̲u and Patir̲r̲uppattu [6] and Letterature dravidiche, the last one in Italian language. [7] His book, An introduction to Colloquial Tamil. is a prescribed text for post graduate studies in Tamil language at the School of Oriental and African Languages [8] and he presented a paper at the Fourth International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies at Jaffna, in 1974. [9] He is a founder trustee of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, UK [10] and a recipient of the 2011 Kural Peedam Award of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. [11] The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for his contributions to Education. [12] Marr died on 19 May 2022, at the age of 94. [13]