Mathuram Bhoothalingam (pen name Krithika) was a Tamil writer who wrote plays and short stories in Tamil and English.[1]
Personal life
Krithika was born as Mathuram in a Tamil-speaking family in Bombay in 1915.[2] At an early age, she moved to Delhi where she spent a considerable part of her life.[3] She was married to Subrahmanya Bhoothalingam, an ICS officer from Delhi.[3] The couple have a daughter, Mina Swaminathan.[3]
Krithika died in 2009 at the age of 93.[2]
Literary career
Mathuram started writing under the pen name "Krithika" from an early age.[1] Making her debut with the Tamil-language novel Puhai Naduvil, an acid look at the bureaucracy, she went on to write a number of children's stories, novels, and plays based on the puranas.[3]
Her play Manathile Oru Maru was directed by another famous writer of her time, Chitti (P. G. Sundararajan), with whom she shared a strong bond of friendship.[2][3] Chitti even authored a book titled An Introduction: Krithika and Mathuram Bhoothalingam.[4] Midway through her career, Krithika also started to write in English.
As Krithika started to write children's books apart from adult-centric stories, she began using her given name.[3] Krithika was one of the first Indian authors to regularly publish children's books in English.[3] Some of her important works in English are Movement in Stone, which looks at early Chola temples and the influence of Pallava art prior to the 9th and 10th centuries; and, Yoga for Living (1996), a contemporary look at the direction of India.[3]
Vasaveswaram is one of her works which focused on women and dealt with issues faced by them in the society.[4] Krithika has also authored books on Hindu Epics such as Ramayana.[5]
Her written correspondence with Chitti which spanned over 30 years have been brought together and published in the form of a book titled Lettered Dialogue by K. R. A. Narasaiah, a relative of Chitti.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Indian author{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Authors Guild of India(1986)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Writers as friends in correspondence. The Hindu(30 July 2012).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 A 40-year correspondence. The Hindu(25 May 2009).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The truth as it is. The Hindu(1 August 2004).
- ↑ Literature east & west{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1966)
- ↑ Writers as friends in correspondence. The Hindu(30 July 2012).