Kalam presents Tholkappiar award to Karunanidhi

Chennai, Sep 4 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today conferred the 'Tholkappiyar Award' on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for his outstanding contribution to Tamil literature.

The award, instituted by the city based 'Alwargal Research Centre', comprised a cash award of Rs one lakh, a gold medal and a citation in silver.

Mr Karunanidhi, a Tamil scholar himself, has been chosen for the award for his poetry on 'Tholkappiyam', the earliest known descriptive Tamil grammar.

The literary work was named after its author, Tolkappiyar, who had carefully prepared the text based on the materials collected not only from the literary and oral tradition that existed long before him, but also from the study of work of his contemporaries.

The function was presided over by former Minister and Chairman, Alwargal Research Centre, R M Veerappan. Mr Karunanidhi was felicitated, among others, by former Vice-Chancellor V C Kulandaiswamy and S Jagathrakshakan, Founder-Secretary, Alwargal Research Centre.

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