KOLLAM: Litterateur S Ramesan Nair has been chosen for this year’s Amrita Keerthi Puraskar. The award will be presented to him on September 27 in Amritapuri, during the 61st birthday celebrations of Mata Amritanandamayi.
The Amrita Keerthi Puraskar is awarded annually since 2001 to eminent personalities for making outstanding contributions in the fields of Indian spirituality, philosophy, culture and literature. The award carries a cash prize of `1,23,456, a statuette of Saraswati Devi sculpted by Artist Namboodiri and a citation.
S Ramesan Nair has made lifelong contributions to Indian culture through his poems, plays, lyrics, translations and commentaries. The Puraskar Committee cited his translations and commentaries on the Tamil classics Chilappathikaram and Tirukkural, his compilation of poetry and commentary on Neethisaarangal.
Ramesan Nair has received several literary awards in the past including the Poonthanam Award, Janmashtami Puraskaram, Revathy Pattathanam Puraskaram, Kerala Sahitya Academy Award, Sanjayan Puraskaram of Tapasya, Puthezhan Puraskaram, Edassery Puraskaram, Venmani Puraskaram and Ottur Puraskaram. He has also been recognised by the Tamil Nadu Government for his many translations from Tamil to Malayalam.