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A. S. P. Ayyar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A. S. Panchapakesa Ayyar (1899–1963) was an Indian novelist, dramatist, short story writer and justice. He was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, London in 1933.

Life

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A. S. P. Ayyar was born on 26 January 1899 at Ayilam, a village near Palghat in Kerala state to a landlord father.[1][2] He initially studied at Trivandrum and Madras, and moved to England in 1919 to study at Oxford University, and became a lawyer.[1] In 1933, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, London. He was appointed the justice of the Madras High Court during 1948–59.[1]

He married Vedanayaki Ammal in 1919.[3] They had a son, A. P. Venkateswaran (1930–2014), who was a diplomat.[4]

Works

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Ayyar had published about 27 works which include novels, plays, short stories, literary criticism, religious works, jurisprudence, travelogue, biography and an autobiography. He had translated several Sanskrit works into English.[1]

Ayyar wrote his novels in late 1940s and in early 1950s. His novels have historical settings. His first novel A Historical Romance of Ancient India (1930) tells a story of a Gupta king who resisted the Hun invaders during the 6th-century. His novel Three Men of Destiny (1039) is a story of Alexander the Great, with two other main characters: Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya.[1]

He wrote his autobiography under the title Twenty Five Years a Civilian (1962).[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Elias, Mohamed (30 November 2004). Eugene Benson; L.W. Conolly (eds.). Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. Routledge. pp. 91–92. ISBN 978-1-134-46848-5.
  2. ^ Reddy, K. V. Subba (1998). "Introduction" (PDF). Social relevance in the selected plays of A S P Ayyar, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Asif Currimbhoy and Partap Sharma A study (Ph.D thesis). Anantapur: Sri Krishnadevaraya University. pp. 8–9. hdl:10603/86802.
  3. ^ C. Roberts (2004). What India Thinks: Being a Symposium of Thought Contributed by 50 Eminent Men and Women Having India's Interest at Heart. Asian Educational Services. p. 326. ISBN 978-81-206-1880-0.
  4. ^ Ranganathan, C.V. (8 December 2015). "Book review 'Venkat For Ever': A biographical tour de force". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 4 January 2021.

Further reading

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  • Menon, K. P. K. (1980). A.S.P. Ayyar. Kerala Writes in English. Macmillan, India. OCLC 215596504.
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