CHENNAI: Sahitya Akademi award winner P Manickavasagam, popularly known by nom de plume Poomani, died of age-related ailments in Chennai on Sunday. The 79-year-old writer, through his nuanced and realistic stories, has documented the lives of the people of the karisal bhoomi (region with predominantly arid black-soil), becoming one of the highly acclaimed writers from the region.
Poomani was born to Pulithurai and Thenammai in Andipatti in Thoothukudi district on May 12, 1947. He worked as a deputy registrar in the co-operative department.
Poomani began his literary career in 1975 with the short story Aruppu (harvest), which was published in the literary magazine Thamarai.
Poomani’s epic Agnyaadi, set across a span of 170 years and revolving around the caste conflicts and discrimination in Sivakasi and its surrounding regions, received the esteemed Sahitya Akademi award in 2014.
Writer Jayamohan, hailing Poomani’s contribution to Tamil literature, explained how the celebrated writer’s mother played a key role by telling him stories since his childhood days, the factor that contributed to Poomani’s writing skills from an early age, and the writer’s close relationship with karisal writer Ki Rajanarayanan, his early attraction towards the stories of Kalki, Na Parthasarathy, and Akilan among others.
Beyond writing, Poomani penned the screenplay and directed the film Karuvelam Pookkal in 1996. His novel Vekkai was adapted as the feature film Asuran in 2019.
After developing health issues, Poomani officially stepped away from penning short stories. For several years after, he continued to live in Chennai.
Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, in its condolence message, recalled that Poomani’s short story collection Reethi may be regarded as a landmark in the history of Tamil short stories. The volume astonished readers by demonstrating that stories could be written with such remarkable economy of words. Through those stories, he gave a powerful voice to the lives and experiences of Dalit communities in the karisal region. The association also said that although Poomani never formally aligned himself with any political movement, he embraced Marxism as his philosophy of life.
Expressing grief over the demise, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay announced that the final rites of the acclaimed writer would be conducted with full state honours at Andipatti in Thoothukudi district on Tuesday.
DMK president M K Stalin noted that many regional expressions, which had never found a place in any Tamil dictionary, had been documented through Poomani’s literary works. Even the title of his novel Agnyaadi was one such dialect word, he added. Dravidar Kazhagam president K Veeramani, CPI state secretary M Veerapandiyan, MDMK general secretary Vaiko, AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran, and Puthiya Thamizhagam president K Krishnasamy were among those who mourned the demise of Poomani.
