Indian Malayalam-language writer and translator
Chathanath Achuthanunni (born in 1939) is a polyglot, Malayalam language writer and translator from Kerala, India. He received many awards including Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions (2011) Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (1987) and Sahridayavedi Award (1988). In 2022 he received the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize, a literary honour in India, presented by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.
Biography.
Chathanath Achuthanunni was born on 1939 in Guruvayur in present-day Thrissur district of Kerala to Menakaymal Vasudevanunnithan and Chathanath Madhavikuttyamma. His father Menakaimal, who was a polyglot scholar and poet, knew Malayalam, English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali languages.
Achuthanunni holds degrees including Sahitya Visarada, M.A. Sanskrit, M.A. Malayalam and Ph.D. From 1957 to 1964 he was a teacher at the High School and from 1965 to 1971 at the Catholic College, Pathanamthitta. He then worked as a lecturer in the Malayalam department of the University of Calicut from 1971 and became a professor in 1983 and the head of the department from 1986. He later became Dean of the Faculty of Languages at the university. After his retirement in 2000, he also served as visiting professor at Kerala Kalamandalam.
He has also worked as the Founder Secretary of Vallathol Vidyapeeth (Shukapuram) and Vice Chairman of Tirur Thunchans Memorial.
Literary contributions.
Publishing poems and essays in periodicals since 1955, he made remarkable contributions in the fields of linguistics, poetics and literary criticism. When he was 15, his first poetry collection 'Muraliganam' was published by Shanta Bookstall, a small publishing house in his birthplace Guruvayur. They also selected and published drama songs written by him during that time. He has also said that he had written and published a detective novel named 'Prethadurgam' in his youth.
Awards and honors.
He received many awards including Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contributions (2011) Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (1987) and Sahridayavedi Award (1988). In 2022 he received the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize, a literary honour in India, presented by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.
Controversies.
In 2019, Chathanath Achuthanunni was accused of plagiarism. The allegation was made by Dr. Shuba K. S., a college teacher. It was alleged that, An article by Achuthanunni in the November–December 2019 issue of "Sahithya Vimarshanam" magazine entitled 'Abhidhamuladhwani: Asangadhamaya oru sankalppam' have plagiarized ideas from the book 'Rasadhwani Siddhantam Upekshikkuka' published in 2013 by Shuba K.S. She also said that Chattannath Achuthanunni has imitated her sentence structure as well. However, Achuthanunni, who said that he had read Shuba's book only two days ago, clarified that nothing he says in his article is in Shuba's book and doubts that Shuba does not know Sanskrit properly, and added he was not interested in the controversy.
Personal life.
Achuthanunni and his wife Aivi lives in his house at Edappal, Malappuram district. The couple have two children, Ashis and Ashwathy.
References.
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