Jnanpith award winner UR Ananthamurthy passes away

Bangalore, Aug 22: Noted Kannada writer UR Ananthamurthy died of kidney failure in a Bangalore hospital on Friday. He was 82-year-old.

Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy better known as URA was a well-known writer and critic in the Kannada language. He was the recepient of the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India.

Ananthamurthy also received the Padma Bhushan in 1998. He was one of the finalists for the Man Booker International Prize in 2013.

Ananthamurthy's writings have been translated into several Indian and European languages. His well known works include Samskara, Bhava, Bharathi Pura and Avasthe. He has also written many short stories in the past.

Ananthamurthy had contested for the Rajya Sabha election in 2006. He was recently in news during the Lok Sabha elections for his anti-Modi comments. He had said that he would leave India if Narendra Modi becomes prime minister. (Read more here)

He is survived by his wife Esther and a son and a daughter, Sharath and Anuradha.

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