Pune, Sept 18: Renowned Marathi litterateur Shivaji Govind Sawant, the author of ‘Mrutyunjay’, a widely acclaimed book on the life of Karna from epic Mahabharat, died of a cardiac arrest at a nursing home at Margao in Goa today. He was 62. Sawant was admitted to the cardiac grace nursing hospital at 9.30 am this morning after he felt uneasiness in the chest. He did not respond to treatment and died of heart attack at 11.30 am, Dr S V Ghode, who attended on the writer, said.
Sawant, who was contesting the election for the post of president of the 76th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan scheduled to be held at Karad in January next, was visiting Goa for some work.
Born on August 31, 1940, in Aajara village of Kolhapur district, Sawant started his career as a teacher in Kolhapur and later became one of the most prolific writers in Marathi.
His voluminous book ‘Mrutyunjay’ had 23 editions in Marathi and has been translated into Hindi, English, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Bangla.
The book, which is known in Marathi as a ‘Mahakadambari’ was recommended for Nobel prize in Stockholm in 1990. It also won several awards including special Maharashtra State Award in 1967 for best literature, Sahitya Academy Award of Gujarat government for the translated work in 1990, Central Academy Award in 1992, and Gadima Puraskar in 2001. Bureau Report