New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday condoled the death of Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul, who shared ancestral roots with India.

"Sir V.S. Naipaul will be remembered for his extensive works, which covered diverse subjects ranging from history, culture, colonialism, politics and more.

"His passing away is a major loss to the world of literature. Condolences to his family and well wishers in this sad hour," Modi tweeted.

Lady Naipaul confirmed that her husband (85) had died peacefully in London on Saturday.

"He was a giant in all that he achieved and he died surrounded by those he loved having lived a life which was full of wonderful creativity and endeavour," she said in a statement.

President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted that he was saddened to learn about the passing of Naipaul, "whose books are an 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," Kovind tweeted.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that "the world of words" has lost "an artful master. She pointed out in a tweet that people could agree or disagree with Naipaul but he "wrote beautiful prose".

Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born in 1932 in Chaguanas on the island of Trinidad and Tobago, to a family that had arrived from India in the 1880s.