The former editor of the Tamil daily Dinamalar, R. Krishnamurthy, died in Chennai on Thursday due to age-related ailments. He was 88.
Fondly referred to as R.K., Krishnamurthy was also a renowned epigraphist. He was born near Nagercoil in Kanniyakumari. After studying in a local school, he joined Scott Christian College at Nagercoil and then moved to Karaikudi to do a B.Sc. in Geology. He further did his post-graduation in Geology at the Presidency College.
He joined Dinamalar in 1956 and became its Editor in 1977. Krishnamurthy introduced the well-known Periyar script in 1977, which has less number of characters, in the Tiruchi edition of the newspaper. He also studied various inscriptions in the Vatteluthu script in different parts of Tamil Nadu. The data collected was published in three books in Tamil. Later, he began to study the inscriptions on the coins of Tamil Nadu.
In his condolence message, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit said Krishnamurthy’s interests in Tamil script reform led him to trace its origin, which in turn kindled his interest in numismatics.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, DMK president M.K. Stalin, TNCC president K.S. Alagiri, PMK founder S. Ramadoss, MDMK chief Vaiko, Tamil Manila Congress president G.K. Vasan and AMMK general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran extended their condolences.
