Kocheril Raman Narayanan, India?s first Dalit, or ?untouchable,? president, died in a military hospital here on Wednesday evening, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. He was 85, according to the Press Trust of India, and he had been suffering from pneumonia and kidney failure. More than half a century after Gandhi led India to independence with a vision of ridding the country of its ancient system of caste discrimination, Mr. Narayanan, a member of Hinduism?s lowest caste, assumed the office of president on July 25, 1997.

After being elected by the country?s federal and state lawmakers to the largely ceremonial post, he declared his elevation proof that ?the concerns of the common man? had taken precedence in the nation?s affairs. Narayanan, an academic, administrator, author, journalist, cabinet minister, politician and diplomat, also served as vice president for five years. While other Dalits have risen to be senior cabinet ministers, top judges and high-ranking military officers, Mr. Narayanan was arguably India?s most powerful symbol that the humiliations of the caste system could be overcome.

Mr. Narayanan?s body will be cremated yesterday with full military honors on the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi, near the funeral ground of Jawaharlal Nehru, India?s first prime minister, the government-run news media reported. A weeklong period of national mourning has been declared.

Joined Foreign Service in 1949

?A creature of circumstances,? as Mr. Narayanan called himself, was born in Uzhavoor, a tiny village in the backwaters of the southern state of Kerala. The third son of Raman Vaidyan, a practitioner of herbal medicine, and his wife, Pappiamma, the youth walked for miles each day to attend school, according to the government-run media. He graduated from Kerala University with high honors in 1943.

Like countless ambitious young men from southern India, Mr. Narayanan then traveled north to New Delhi, India?s capital. He worked in a government office and as a journalist before winning a scholarship to the London School of Economics. There, he studied political science and graduated with high honors. fter returning to India in 1949 he joined the Indian Foreign Service and served in the Indian Embassies in Burma, Japan, Britain, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan. In 1976, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi chose Mr. Narayanan, who spoke Chinese, to be the first Indian ambassador to Beijing in 15 years. He also served as ambassador to the United States.

An avid reader and a writer, he wrote several books and numerous magazine articles. KR Narayanan is survived by his wife, Usha, and two daughters, Amrita and Chitra, who is India?s ambassador to Turkey. n 1984 he won election from Kerala to the first of three consecutive five-year terms in Parliament.

LAST RESPECTS

Dignitaries pay tributes to Narayanan

■ President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday paid homage to former President K R Narayanan who died here after prolonged illness. Kalam, Singh, Vice President B S Shekhawat and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee were among the first to visit the Kapurthala House where Narayanan?s body is lying in state and lay wreaths. A host of dignitaries across the political spectrum paid their last respects to the departed soul at the Kapurthala house, where his body was brought this morning. Among those who paid tributesd to him included Union Ministers Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar, Mani Shankar Aiyer and T R Baalu. Former Prime Minister V P Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Union Ministers Mukherjee, Maran, A Raja, P Chidambaram, Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar, Andhra Pradesh Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde and Delhi Lt Governor B L Joshi visited the Kapurthala House to pay tributes to Narayanan. Others who offered their last respects were Army Chief Gen J J Singh, Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash, Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi, Election Commissioner Chawla, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ch Prem Singh, Delhi Minister A K Walia and BJP leaders Sahib Singh Chauhan and Vijay Goel.