Ki. Va. Jagannathan

Krishnarayapuram Vasudevan Jagannathan / Ki. Va. Jagannathan popularly known by his initials as Ki. Va. Ja, was an Indian Tamil scholar, commentator, journalist, poet, writer and folklorist from Tamil Nadu, India. He was a student of noted Tamil scholar and publisher U. V. Swaminatha Iyer. He was the editor of the magazine Kalaimagal. He won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1967 in Tamil language category for his literary criticism Virar Ulagam. He has written extensive commentaries on many Tamil devotional texts including Kandar Alangaram, Kandar Anubhuti, Thirumurugattruppadai, Abirami Andathi and Kandar Kalivenba. He has written more than 200 books on various topics in Tamil literature and grammar. He was a great orator and was popularly known as Vageesa Kalanidhi, a title bestowed on him by Kanchi Paramacharya.