| Kovai Gnani | |
| Birth Name: | K. Pazhanisamy |
| Birth Date: | 1 July 1935 |
| Birth Place: | Somannur, Coimbatore, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Death Place: | Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Occupation: | writer, literary critic, Marxist thinker |
| Spouse: | Indrani |
| Children: | 2 |
| Parents: | Krishnaswamy Mariammal |
| Website: | http://kovaignani.org/ |
K. Pazhanisamy was a Tamil language writer, Marxist thinker, literary critic and scholar from Tamil Nadu, India, who wrote under the pen name Kovai Gnani. He introduced the Marxist ideology in Tamil literature, in the early 1990s,[1] and authored 28 books on literary criticism, five collections of essays, three collections of poetry, eleven anthologies and edited many books.[2]
He received several awards including Tamil Nadu government's best book award and Lifetime Achievement Award by The Tamil Literary Garden.
Pazhanisamy was born in 1935, in Somannur in Coimbatore, of Tamil Nadu, one of the eight children of Krishnaswamy and Mariammal.[3] He graduated in Tamil literature from Annamalai University and worked as a Tamil teacher in a school in Coimbatore for 30 years.[4] In 1988, at the age of 55, he lost his sight due to diabetes, but that did not stop his quest for reading and writing.
As a Marxist thinker, or as a person moved towards Tamil nationalism, he did not associate with any political party or movement in India.[4] He approached Marxism only as a philosophy.[4] Gnani opposed classical Marxism, which approached culture only economically, and argued for the need for a Marxism suitable for India (Mannukketra Marxism) and explained it in his writings and speeches.[1]
He was the mentor for many modern Tamil writers and poets.[5] His contact with eminent Tamil scholars and his self-study, which continued for over 50 years, gave him an in-depth knowledge of ancient and modern Tamil literature. His involvement in Marxism and Tamil made him a critic of Tamil literature and contemporary Tamil society. He who made a significant role in founding the poetry movement Vaanampaadi, which focuses discovering new poets, with writers like Sirpi Balasubramaniam, Mehta and Bhuviyarash.[3] As part of the Little Magazine Movement, he edited Tamil language little magazines like Puthia Thalaimurai, Vanampadihe and ran magazines like Marxia Ayvithazh, Parimanam and Nigazh.[6] His books are being used as a subject of study in the Tamil departments of various universities in India.[3]
Gnani and his wife Indrani had two sons. He died on 20 July 2020 at Coimbatore.