CHENNAI: Renowned Tamil poet and lyricist Vairamuthu has been conferred the 60th Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour, for the year 2025. Conferred by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, the award has been presented annually since 1961 to an author for their “outstanding contribution to literature”.
Vairamuthu is the third Tamil literary luminary to receive the award after PV Akilandam aka Akilan in 1975 and novelist Jayakanthan in 2002.
Vairamuthu, apart from being a lyricist, has penned over 30 books, including poetry collections and novels. Some of his notable literary works are the Sahitya Akademi Award-winning ‘Kallikkattu Ithikasam’, ‘Karuvachchi Kaviyam’, Poems of Vairamuthu, and ‘Moondram Ulagappor’. His works have also been translated into English and Indian languages like Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu. He was conferred the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.
Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed immense joy over the announcement. Taking to ‘X’, Stalin said that Vairamuthu, who has mastered both traditional and modern poetry, truly deserves the honour for his innovations in Tamil literature. “If Kalaignar Karunanidhi were alive today, he would have embraced and celebrated the poet. I stand in his place to congratulate him; all of Tamil Nadu celebrates this achievement,” the CM added
Congratulating him on the honour, actor-politician Kamal Haasan said their friendship blossomed right from the first verse Vairamuthu wrote for Tamil cinema. He also praised Vairamuthu for having made Tamil proud. “Tamil literature, with its long tradition, has received the prestigious literary award for the third time. It’s been 25 years since Jayakanthan won the previous Jnanpith, and now, Vairamuthu has added this great honour to Tamil,” the actor said.
Actor Nizhalgal Ravi, who started his film journey with Vairamuthu in Nizhalgal, said that his work in the film was a sign of things to come. “In Tamil, there is a saying, ‘Vilaiyum Payir Mulaiyil Therium’ (You can spot a good crop by looking at the sprout). He rightfully deserves the award. He has carried the baton from Kannadasan and Vaali, and I have fond memories of how he would just utter poems effortlessly in between a normal conversation.”
His other literary accolades include the SP Adithanar Literary Award, Sadhana Samman, Ilakkiya Sinthanai Award, Tansri KR Somasundaram Literature Foundation Award, and Book of the Year Award by FICCI. Vairamuthu has had an equally illustrious career as a lyricist, with six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and seven National Film Awards, the most by anyone.
