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{{short description|Indian linguist}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = A. K. Ramanujan
| image = A.K.RamanujanPic.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|03|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Mysore]], [[Princely State of Mysore]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1993|07|13|1929|03|16|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], United States
| notableworks = ''The Striders''; ''Second Sight''
| language = [[English language|English]], [[Kannada]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]]
| nationality = [[India]]n
| education = Doctorate in [[English Literature]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Mysore]], [[Deccan College (Pune)|Deccan College]], [[Indiana University]]
| awards = [[MacArthur Fellowship]], [[List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for English|Sahitya Akademi Award]] and [[Padma Shree]]
}}
'''Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan''' (16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993)<ref>{{cite web |title=Guide to the A.K. Ramanujan Papers 1944-1995 |url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.RAMANUJANAK |website=lib.uchicago.edu |publisher=lib.uchicago.edu |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A.K. Ramanujan: a lonely hero |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/zKQlw5onFy0BRykDBXh70K/AK-Ramanujan-a-lonely-hero.html |website=livemint.com |publisher=livemint.com |access-date=28 August 2018|date=2017-09-22 }}</ref> was an [[India]]n [[poet]] and [[scholarly method|scholar]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Ramanujan, Attipat Krishnaswami |url=https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2014/06/11/ramanujan-attipat-krishnaswami/ |website=scholarblogs.emory.edu |publisher=scholarblogs.emory.edu |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref> of [[Indian literature]] who wrote in both [[English language|English]] and [[Kannada language|Kannada]]. Ramanujan was a [[poet]], scholar, professor, [[philologist]], [[folklorist]], [[translator]], and [[playwright]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=A. K. Ramanjan: A PROFILE |journal=Journal of South Asian Literature|volume=16|issue=2|pages=181–184|publisher=jstor.org|jstor=40873731 |last1=Kulshrestha |first1=Chirantan |year=1981}}</ref> His academic research ranged across five languages: English, [[Kannada language|Kannada]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], and [[Sanskrit]]. He published works on both classical and modern variants of this literature and argued strongly for giving local, non-standard dialects their due. Though he wrote widely and in a number of genres, Ramanujan's poems are remembered as enigmatic works of startling originality, sophistication and moving artistry. He was awarded the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] posthumously in 1999 for ''The Collected Poems''.

==Biography==

===Childhood===
Ramanujan<ref>{{cite web |title=A K Ramanujan (1929 – 1993) |url=http://www.indiaonline.in/about/personalities/writersandpoets/a-k-ramanujan |website=indiaonline.in |publisher=indiaonline.in |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref> was born in [[Mysore|Mysore City]] on 16 March 1929. His father, [[A. A. Krishnaswami Ayyangar|Attipat Asuri Krishnaswami]], an astronomer and professor of mathematics at [[Mysore University]], was known for his interest in English, [[Kannada]] and Sanskrit languages. His mother was a homemaker. Ramanujan also had a brother, A.K. Srinivasan who was a writer and mathematician.

===Education===

Ramanujan was educated at Marimallappa's High School, [[Mysore]], and at the [[Maharaja College of Mysore]]. In college, Ramanujan majored in science in his freshman year, but his father persuaded him to change his major from science to English. Later, Ramanujan became a Fellow of [[Deccan College (Pune)|Deccan College, Pune]] in 1958–59 and a [[Fulbright Scholar]] at [[Indiana University]] in 1959–62. He was educated in English at the [[University of Mysore]] and received his PhD in [[Linguistics]] from [[Indiana University]].<ref name="english.emory.edu">[http://english.emory.edu/Bahri/Ramanujan.html Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan, Biography and works] Emory University.</ref>

==Career==
Ramanujan worked as a lecturer of English at [[Quilon]] and [[Belgaum]]; he later taught at The [[Maharaja Sayajirao University]] in [[Baroda]] for about eight years. In 1962, he joined the [[University of Chicago]] as an assistant professor. He was affiliated with the university throughout his career, teaching in several departments. He taught at other [[US]] universities as well, including [[Harvard University]], [[University of Wisconsin]], [[University of Michigan]], [[University of California at Berkeley]], and [[Carleton College]]. At the [[University of Chicago]], Ramanujan was instrumental in shaping the South Asian Studies program. He worked in the departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, Linguistics, and with the Committee on Social Thought.

In 1976, the [[Government of India]] awarded him the [[Padma Shri]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009) |publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]] |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2013 }}</ref> and in 1983, he was given the [[MacArthur Prize Fellowship]] (Shulman, 1994).<ref>{{cite web |title=MacArthur Foundation : A. K. Ramanujan |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/193/ |website=macfound.org |publisher=macfound.org |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="english.emory.edu" /> In 1983, he was appointed the William E. Colvin Professor in the Departments of [http://salc.uchicago.edu/ South Asian Languages and Civilizations], of [http://linguistics.uchicago.edu/ Linguistics], and in the [[Committee on Social Thought]] at the [[University of Chicago]]. That same year, he received a [[MacArthur Fellowship]]. As an Indo-American writer, Ramanujan had the experience of the native as well as foreign milieu. His poems such as the "Conventions of Despair" reflected his views on the cultures and conventions of the east and west.

A. K. Ramanujan died in Chicago on 13 July 1993 as result of an adverse reaction to [[anaesthesia]] during preparation for surgery.<ref>{{cite news |title=Attipat K. Ramanujan, 64, Poet And Scholar of Indian Literature |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/16/obituaries/attipat-k-ramanujan-64-poet-and-scholar-of-indian-literature.html |newspaper=The New York Times |publisher=nytimes.com |access-date=29 August 2018|date=1993-07-16 |last1=Lambert |first1=Bruce }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=OBITUARY-A K Ramanujan |issue=23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 31 |pages=7, 7, 7, 7, 7–8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |url=https://www.epw.in/journal/1993/31/commentary/obituary-k-ramanujan.html |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 28 |publisher=epw.in |access-date=29 August 2018}}</ref>

==Contributions to Indian studies==
A. K. Ramanujan's theoretical<ref>{{cite web |title=A. K. Ramanujan's theory of translation |url=https://nptel.ac.in/courses/109104050/lecture14/14_6.htm |website=nptel.ac.in |publisher=nptel.ac.in |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref> and aesthetic contributions span several disciplinary areas.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reading The Small Print : The literary legacy of an Indian modernist |url=http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/reading-small-print/4 |website=caravanmagazine.in |publisher=caravanmagazine.in |access-date=29 August 2018}}</ref> In his cultural essays such as "Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?" (1990), he explains cultural ideologies and behavioral manifestations thereof in terms of an Indian psychology he calls "context-sensitive" thinking. In his work in folklore studies, Ramanujan highlights the inter-textuality of the Indian oral and written literary tradition. His essay "Where Mirrors Are Windows: Toward an Anthology of Reflections" (1989), and his commentaries in ''The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology'' (1967) and ''Folktales from India'',<ref>{{cite journal |title=Showers of Flowers: A. K. Ramanujan and an Indian Folktale |journal=Jung Journal |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=5–22 |publisher=jstor.org |jstor=10.1525/jung.2008.2.1.5 |doi=10.1525/jung.2008.2.1.5 |year=2008 |last1=Narayan |first1=Kiran |s2cid=170435061 }}</ref> ''Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages'' (1991) are good examples of his work in Indian folklore studies.<ref name="english.emory.edu"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Under the Ramanujan tree |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/under-the-ramanujan-tree/article23270993.ece |newspaper=The Hindu |publisher=thehindu.com |access-date=27 August 2018|date=2018-03-17 |last1=Daruwalla |first1=Keki N. }}</ref>

==Controversy regarding his essay==
His 1991 essay "[[Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation]]" courted controversy over its inclusion in the B.A. in History syllabus of the [[University of Delhi]] in 2006. In this essay, he wrote of the existence of many versions of ''[[Ramayana]]'' and a few versions that portrayed ''[[Rama]]'' and ''[[Sita]]'' as siblings, which contradicts the popular versions of the Ramayana, such as those by [[Valmiki]] and [[Tulsidas]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws241011RAMAYANA_RUCKUS.asp | title=Which version of 'Ramayana' would Ram read? | work=[[Tehelka]] | date=24 October 2011 | access-date=29 October 2012 | author=Parashar, Arpit and Vishwajoy Mukherjee | location=New Delhi | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029012912/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws241011RAMAYANA_RUCKUS.asp | archive-date=29 October 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The comments written by A K Ramanujan were found to be derogatory by some Hindus<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-15363181 | title=Ramayana, an 'epic' controversy | work=[[BBC News]] | date=19 October 2011 | access-date=3 October 2016}}</ref> and some of them decided to go to court for removal of the text from the Delhi University curriculum. [[Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad|ABVP]], a nationalist student organisation, opposed its inclusion in the syllabus, saying it hurt the majority Hindu sentiment, who viewed ''[[Rama]]'' and ''[[Sita]]'' as incarnations of gods and who were husband and wife. They demanded the essay be removed from the syllabus. In 2008, the [[Delhi High Court]] directed Delhi University to convene a committee to decide on the essay's inclusion. A four-member committee subsequently gave its 3-1 verdict in favor of its inclusion in the syllabus.

The academic council, however, ignored the committee's recommendation and voted to scrap the essay from its syllabus in Oct 2011.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/du-to-scrap-ramanujan-essay-on-ramayana-that-incensed-right-wingers-104127.html | title=DU to scrap Ramanujan essay on Ramayana that incensed right wingers | work=[[First Post (India)|First Post]] | date=10 October 2011 | access-date=29 October 2012 | location=New Delhi}}</ref> This led to protests by many historians and intellectuals, accusing Delhi University of succumbing to the ''diktat'' ("views") of non-historians.<ref name="CHE">{{cite web | url=http://chronicle.com/blogs/global/academics-upset-by-oxfords-stopping-essay-on-indian-epic/31561?sid=at | title=Academics Upset by Oxford's Stopping Essay on Indian Epic | publisher=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]] | date=28 November 2011 | access-date=29 October 2012}}</ref>

== Selected publications ==
His works include translations from Old [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and Old [[Kannada]], such as:

;Translations and Studies of Literature

*''The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical [[Tamil language|Tamil]] Anthology'', 1967
*''Speaking of Siva'', Penguin. 1973. {{ISBN|9780140442700}}.
*''The Literatures of India''. Edited with Edwin Gerow. Chicago: [[University of Chicago]] Press, 1974
*''Hymns for the Drowning'', 1981
*''Poems of Love and War''. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Columbia University Press]], 1985
*''Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages'', 1991
*''Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?'' in ''India Through Hindu Categories'', edited by McKim Marriott, 1990
*''[http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft1k4003tz When God Is a Customer: Telugu Courtesan Songs by Ksetrayya and Others]'' (with Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman), 1994
*''[http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft067n99wt A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India]'', 1997

;Essays
Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation<ref>{{cite web |title=Three Hundred Ramayanas |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3j49n8h7&chunk.id=d0e1254 |website=publishing.cdlib.org |publisher=publishing.cdlib.org}}</ref>

Collected Essays of A. K. Ramanujan<ref>{{cite web |title=Three Thoughts on Translation |url=http://www.trans-techresearch.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/three-hundred-Ramayanas-A-K-Ramanujan.pdf |website=trans-techresearch.net |publisher=trans-techresearch.net |access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref>

;Poetry

*''The Striders''. London: [[Oxford University Press]], 1966<ref>{{cite journal |title=Reviewed Work: The Striders by A. K. Ramanujan |journal=Mahfil |volume=3 |issue=2/3 |pages=85–88 |publisher=jstor.org |jstor=40874140 |last1=Raffel |first1=Burton |year=1966 }}</ref>
*''Relations''. London, New York: [[Oxford University Press]], 1971
*''Selected Poems''. [[New Delhi]]: [[Oxford University Press]], 1976<ref>{{cite journal |title=Selected Poems by A. K. Ramanujan |journal=World Literature Today |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=344 |publisher=jstor.org |jstor=40132984 |last1=Guptara |first1=Prabhu S. |last2=Ramanujan |first2=A. K. |year=1978 |doi=10.2307/40132984 }}</ref>
*''Second Sight''. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Oxford University Press]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=Second Sight by A. K. Ramanujan |journal=World Literature Today |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=349–350 |publisher=jstor.org |jstor=40143285 |last1=Perry |first1=John Oliver |last2=Ramanujan |first2=A. K. |year=1987 |doi=10.2307/40143285 }}1986</ref>
*''The Collected Poems''. [[New Delhi]]: [[Oxford University Press]], 1997<ref>{{cite web |title=A.K. Ramanujan's 'The Collected Poems' |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/19950630-book-review-of-a-k-ramanujan-the-collected-poems-807472-1995-06-30 |website=indiatoday.in |publisher=indiatoday.in |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Collected Poems of A. K. Ramanujan |url=https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/amit/books/ramanujan-1997-collected-poems-of.html |website=cse.iitk.ac.in |publisher=cse.iitk.ac.in |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>

;Appearances in the following poetry Anthologies
* ''Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets'' (1976) ed. by [[R. Parthasarathy]] and published by [[Oxford University Press]], [[New Delhi]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Ten 20th Century Indian Poets |url=https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/amit/books/parthasarathy-1976-ten-20th-century.html |website=cse.iitk.ac.in |publisher=cse.iitk.ac.in |access-date=23 August 2018}}</ref>
* ''The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets'' (1992) ed. by [[Arvind Krishna Mehrotra]] and published by [[Oxford University Press]], [[New Delhi]]<ref>{{cite web |title=The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets |url=https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/amit/books/mehrotra-1993-oxford-india-anthology.html |website=cse.iitk.ac.in |publisher=cse.iitk.ac.in |access-date=23 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Book review: 'Twelve Modern Indian Poets' by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19920815-book-review-twelve-modern-indian-poets-by-arvind-krishna-mehrotra-766731-2013-01-03 |website=indiatoday.in |publisher=indiatoday.in |access-date=23 August 2018}}</ref>
* ''The Golden Treasure of [[Writers Workshop]] Poetry'' (2008) ed. by Rubana Huq and published by [[Writers Workshop]], [[Calcutta]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Rubana Huq, ed. The Golden Treasury of Writers Workshop Poetry. Review : ASIATIC, VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1, JUNE 2009 |url=http://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/AJELL/article/view/82/67 |website=journals.iium.edu.my |publisher=journals.iium.edu.my |access-date=4 September 2018}}</ref>

;Kannada
*''Samskara''. (translation of U R Ananthamurthy's Kannada novel) Delhi: [[Oxford University Press]], 1976
*''Hokkulalli Huvilla'' (translated to English - "No Flower in the Navel"). Dharwad, 1969
*''Mattu Itara Padyagalu'' (translated to English - "And Other Poems"). Dharwad, 1977
*''Kuntobille'' (translated to English - "Hopscotch")
*''Mattobbana Atma Charitre'' (translated to English - "Yet Another Man's Autobiography")
*Haladi Meenu (Kannada Translation of Shouri's English Novel)
*A. K. Ramanujan Samagra (Complete Works of A. K. Ramanujan in Kannada)
*A. K. Ramanujan Avara Aayda Kavitegalu
*A. K. Ramanujan Avara Aayda Barahagalu

==See also==
* [[List of translators into English]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Guillermo Rodriguez, ''When Mirrors are Windows: A View of AK Ramanujan’s Poetics '' ( OUP, 2016)<ref>{{cite web |title=Speaking of Ramanujan |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/speaking-of-ramanujan-guillermo-rodriguez-when-mirrors-are-windows-4772031/ |website=indianexpress.com |publisher=indianexpress.com |access-date=28 August 2018|date=2017-07-28 }}</ref>

==External links==
* [https://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/l%C3%A5ng/a-k-ramanujan A. K. Ramanujan] at [[Nationalencyklopedin]]
* [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/a-k-ramanujan/ A. K. Ramanujan] at [[Poetry Foundation]]
* [https://penguin.co.in/book_author/a-k-ramanujan/ A. K. Ramanujan] at [[Penguin India]]
* {{OL author|7474A}}

{{Sahitya Akademi Award for English}}
{{lists of poets |state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramanujan, A.K.}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:English-language poets from India]]
[[Category:Writers from Mysore]]
[[Category:English-language writers from India]]
[[Category:MacArthur Fellows]]
[[Category:American people of Kannada descent]]
[[Category:American dramatists and playwrights of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Kannada-language writers]]
[[Category:Kannada people]]
[[Category:Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian translators]]
[[Category:Translators from Tamil]]
[[Category:Tamil–English translators]]
[[Category:Translators from Kannada]]
[[Category:Indologists]]
[[Category:Indian folklorists]]
[[Category:Scholars from Mysore]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian linguists]]
[[Category:University of Mysore alumni]]
[[Category:Indiana University alumni]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English]]
[[Category:Maharaja's College, Mysore alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Poets from Karnataka]]
[[Category:American male writers of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:Indian philologists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century philologists]]

A. K. Ramanujan - Revision history

imported>JJMC89 bot III at 14:22, 24 July 2021