Vanidasan
Arangasamy Ethirasalu, known by his pen name Vanidasan, was a Tamil poet. He was known to be one from Pavalar generation known as 'Bharathidasan's poetic ancestry'. He was an expert in Tamil, Telugu, English and French. He published over 17 collections of poetry, including several novels in poetry form.
Early life
He was born in Villianur, next to Puducherry. His father Thirukkaamu and mother Tulsiammal named him Arangasamy. He was also known by his nickname 'Rami'.He was taught in primary school by the writer Bharathidasan. He started writing under the pen name ‘Ra-Mi’. He published his songs in the book Tamil Kavithai Kalanjiyam published by Sahitya Akademi and in another book published by the Southern Language Book Publishing Group. His songs have been translated into Russian and English. He was also proficient in French, in which he published Tamil-French Kaiagara Mudali.
In 1935, Vanidasan married Adilakshmi, niece of his step-mother. They had nine children, male and female. The eldest of them, Madhuri, married V Kaliyamoorthy on 10 May 1959 in the presence of Mayilai Sivamuthu.