Sixty years ago, at a time when the literacy level was low and when the English-educated Tamils looked down on writings in Tamil, Kalki’s circulation touched 71,000 copies – the largest for any weekly in the county then – when it serialised his historical novels. The success that Krishnamurthy attained in the realm of historical fiction is phenomenal.

Ki’, ‘Tamil Theni’, ‘Karnatakam’ and so on. He wrote under the pen names of ‘Kalki’, ‘Ra. Krishnamurthy’s witty, incisive comments on politics, literature, music and other forms of art were looked forward to with unceasing interest by readers.

His writings includes over 120 short stories, 10 novelettes, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews. His name also represents “Kalki avatar”, the tenth and last avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. 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). Tamil language Novel Writer, Journalist, Poet & Critic late Ramaswamy Aiyer Krishnamurthy also known as ‘Kalki’. The plot revolves around the historical events of the Chalukya king Pulakesi II playing a siege of Kanchi and Narasimhavarman avenging this by attacking Vatapi the capital of the Chalukyas. Mahendravarman I, the Pallava emperor plays an important role in the first half of the story while his son Narasimhavarman comes into his own as the novel progresses. Honour, love and friendship form important themes that run through the course of the novel that would be tough to point out who the real hero of the novel is. The novel created widespread interest in Tamil history when it was being published in the 1940s. Along with Ponniyin Selvan, this is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels ever written in Tamil Set in 7th century south India against the backdrop of various historical events and figures. Believed by some to be one of the first historical novels in Tamil it was originally serialized in the weekly Kalki magazine for about 12 years. Kalki Krishnamurthy, recipient of India's highest literary honour - the Sahitya Akademi Award. Sivakamiyin Sabadham is a historical Tamil novel set in 7th century South India written by Kalki in 1944.

சிவகாமியின் சபதம் by Kalki