CHENNAI: Former editor of Tamil daily Dinamalar and well-known numismatist and epigraphist R Krishnamurthy (89) passed away here on Thursday due to age-related ailments. Born as the second son to TV Ramasubbaiar, the founder of Dinamalar, on January 18, 1933 in Vadiveeswaram, near Nagercoil, Krishnamurthy joined the daily in 1956 and went on to become its editor in 1977.
He was keen on simplifying the Tamil script and just after taking over as the editor, he introduced a new way of storytelling in the daily in 1977. The simplified Tamil script was proposed by social reformer Thanthai Periyar, i.e., reforming certain syllables of the modern Tamil language aimed at standardising non-standard ligatures, which are used very often while writing and in print.
Krishnamurthy studied in detail various inscriptions in Vatteluttu script obtained from various parts of Tamil Nadu pertaining to different periods. He collected the data and published them as three books in Tamil. His interest in deciphering inscriptions eventually led him to numismatics. He discovered a coin with the name of Peruvazhuthi, a Sangam-age Pandya King, inscribed in Tamil Brahmi script in Madurai in 1984. Following this, he also discovered coins of different periods and published a book titled ‘Sangam Age Tamil Coins’. For this purpose, he also travelled to many foreign countries.
The Royal Numismatic Society in London honoured him by electing him as a fellow of the society. In recognition of his service and contribution to journalism, Tamil script reform, epigraphy and numismatics, Madurai Kamaraj University at Madras in Tamil Nadu conferred an honorary doctorate in 2004. He was also a recipient of the Tholkappiar Award from the President of India in 2015 for his work on Tamil script and numismatics.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, DMK president MK Stalin, TNCC president KS Alagiri, PMK founder S Ramadoss, AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran, and TMC(M) president GK Vasan were among those who condoled the demise of Krishnamurthy.