Jnanpith awardee and renowned Kannada writer UR Ananthamurthy passed away this evening at a Bangalore hospital where he was undergoing treatment for kidney infection and fever, news channel NDTV reported.

Bangalore: Jnanpith award winner U R Ananthamurthy, who strode the Kannada literary world like a colossus with his pathbreaking works, died of multiple health complications at a private hospital in Bangalore.

Ananthamurthy, rated as one of the best writers in the country who won acclaims from critics and fans alike, breathed his last this evening, 10 days after he was hospitalised with fever and infection, the doctor attending on him said.

82-year old Ananthamurthy is survived by his wife Esther, a son and a daughter.

"He had a cardiac arrest. We tried to resuscitate but it was not successful. So we with great regret announce that he is no more with us," Manipal Hospital Medical Director & Chairman - Medical Advisory Board H Sudarshan Ballal told reporters.

Ananthamurthy, who had been suffering from kidney related disease for some years and was undergoing dialysis treatment with diabetes and heart problem, turned critical last night, he said.

"His condition got critical since last night and blood pressure also deteriorated. He was also facing breathing problem, so we had kept him under ventilator..," Ballal said.

Ananthamurthy's wife and children were by his side when the end came, hospital sources said.

In his several decades of literary life, he has won the Padma Bhushan in 1998, Jnanpith award in 1994 and the state Rajyothsava award in 1984.

His nomination for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize brought him to the attention of a Western audience. He was also the Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala during the late 1980s.

PTI