John Ralston Marr

John Ralston Marr (5 July 1927 – 19 May 2022) was an English Indologist, writer and a member of faculty at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.^[1]

He is known as a scholar of Carnatic music and Tamil literature^[2] and is the author of several publications^[3] including An introduction to colloquial Tamil,^[4] The Pĕriya purāṇam frieze at Tārācuram : episodes in the lives of the Tamil Śaiva saints,^[5] The eight Tamil anthologies, with special reference to Pur̲anān̲ūr̲u and Patir̲r̲uppattu^[6] and Letterature dravidiche, the last one in Italian language.^[7] His book, An introduction to Colloquial Tamil. is a prescribed text for post graduate studies in Tamil language at the School of Oriental and African Languages^[8] and he presented a paper at the Fourth International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies at Jaffna, in 1974.^[9]

He is a founder trustee of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, UK^[10] and a recipient of the 2011 Kural Peedam Award of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.^[11]

The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for his contributions to education.^[12]

Marr died on 19 May 2022, at the age of 94.^[13]