S. M. Muthu, a Tamil scholar, who paved the way for the translation of Thirukkural and other Tamil literary works into Japanese language through his pen-friend, passed away at his home town Omalur near here on Tuesday.
He was 96. Mr. Muthu, had completed his intermediate from St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchi. He became a pen-friend of Japanese scholar Shuzo Matsunaga in 1980. Shuzo who had read a few lines on Thirukkural evinced keen interest in translating it into Japanese. Shuzo wrote to Muthuwho sent G. U. Pope’s English translation of the text to him . Mr. Shuzo soon translated Thirukural into Japanese. Thanks to his initiative, Mr. Shuzo attended the fifth World Tamil conference in Madurai.
Mr. Muthu is survived by three sons and three daughters.
