Avvai Natarajan (24 April 1936 – 21 November 2022) was an Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

scholar and educationist who was Vice-Chancellor of Thanjavur Tamil University. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

honored Natarajan in 2011, with the fourth highest civilian award of

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

Biography

Avvai Natarajan, hailing from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was a secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Department of Tamil Language Development and Culture. Holder of an MLitt and a doctoral degree (PhD) in Tamil literature, Natarajan has also worked as the Vice Chancellor of

Tamil University The Tamil University is a public state university located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established to provide higher research in the Tamil language. Location The university is situated in a campus of about , granted by the ...

, Thanjavur. He was a member of the

Central Institute of Classical Tamil The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) is a body established by the Government of India with a view to promoting the cause of Classical Tamil. It is located in Chennai. History The CICT was formerly known as the Centre of Excellence ...

, an institute established by the

for propagation of classical Tamil language and culture. He also sat in the advisory councils of Sattakadir and the Madras Development Society. He has delivered keynote addresses in many seminars and held the chair of the selection committee of the ''Aram Award''. In 2011, the

honoured him with the civilian award of

, honoring his contributions towards Tamil language and culture.

Death

Natarajan died in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

on 21 November 2022, at the age of 86.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Natarajan, Avvai 1936 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Indian educational theorists Heads of universities and colleges in India People from Thanjavur Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Scholars from Tamil Nadu