LONDON: Tributes pou­red in on Sunday for Nobel prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul, who has died aged 85, including from many of those who clashed with him.

One of the many writers he argued with, Salman Rushdie, also mourned his passing.

“We disagreed all our lives, about politics, about literature, and I feel as sad as if I just lost a beloved older brother. RIP Vidia,” he tweeted.

William Dalrymple, an author and historian who contested Naipaul’s defence of Hindu nationalism in India, called him “a giant among us”.

“Even if you disagreed with much that he wrote, particularly about India, you couldn’t help be stimulated, influenced & catalysed by the brilliance of his laser sharp vision,” he tweeted.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his death was a “major loss to the world of literature”, despite the controversy he stoked.

“Sir VS Naipaul will be remembered for his extensive works, which covered diverse subjects ranging from history, culture, colonialism, politics and more,” Indian PM Modi said on Twitter.

“His passing away is a major loss to the world of literature. Condolences to his family and well wishers in this sad hour.”

The president of India, Ram Nath Kovind, added that his books were a “penetrative exploration of faith, colonialism and the human condition, in his home in the Caribbean and beyond”.

“A loss for the world of letters and for the broader school of Indo-Anglian literature.”

Considered one of the finest writers of his generation, he was also an abrasive character. He once declared that he was without rival, dismissing many of his fellow writers — and all female ones, who he said were “sentimental”.

Naipaul increasingly raised eyebrows in his later years, in particular because of his views on religion.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2018