His work on freedom struggle, spirituality won him awards Pe. Su. Mani, Tamil writer-historian, died on Tuesday evening at his residence in New Delhi after a brief illness. He was 87. He is survived by two daughters. His wife died in 2017. Born on November 2, 1933, in Pennathur of Tiruvannamalai district, Mani had a modest academic background and did not pursue beyond school education. He had worked in the postal department and retired as a supervisor. In his youth, he got attracted to eminent Tamil scholars Ve. Swaminatha Sarma, an author of a number of Tamil works on European social and political philosophers, and M. P. Sivagnanam (also known as Ma. Po. Si.), who ran a political group, ‘Tamilarasu Kazhagam’. He had worked as a leader of the group’s West Mambalam unit in Chennai.