Kalki Krishnamurthy

(1899 - 1954)

Kalki (Tamil: கல்கி) was the pen name of R. Krishnamurthy (9 September 1899 – 5 December 1954), a noted Tamil freedom fighter, social crusader, novelist, short story writer, journalist, humorist, satirist, travel writer, script-writer, poet, film & music critic, Indian independence activist and connoisseur of the arts writer from Tamil Nadu, India. He derived his pen name from the suffixes of his wife name Kalyani and his name Krishnamurthy in Tamil form கல்யாணி and கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி as Kalki(கல்கி) "Kalki avatar", the tenth and last avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. His writings includes over 120 short stories, 10 novelettes, five novels, three historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews.