Historian MGS Narayanan passes away
Celebrated for his unflinching confidence, which garnered both laurels and animosity, prominent historian and former chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Muttayil Govinda Menon Sankaranarayanan, better known as M.G.S. Narayanan or simply MGS, died at the age of 92 at his residence in Kozhikode on Saturday (April 26, 2025) morning.
Proficient in Vattezhuthu, the syllabic alphabet of South India and Sri Lanka as well as Kolezhuthu, the syllabic alphabet of Kerala used for writing Malayalam language, he had also possessed a deep knowledge of Sanskrit. In 1996, he had published his laboriously researched thesis titled 'Perumals of Kerala,' exploring the complex political and social dynamics of Kerala from 800 to 1124. Often, he had demonstrated his understanding on this subject.
Also read: Windows into the past
His other notable published works include Cultural Symbiosis in Kerala (1972) and Calicut: The City of Truth Revisited (2006). With an admirable scholarly legacy, MGS fearlessly confronted Left-leaning and pro-Marxist historians, resolute in his unshakable convictions, and engraved an indelible mark on the historical narrative at the national and State levels.
Born to Dr. K.P. Govinda Menon and Narayani Amma in Ponnani on August 20, 1932, MGS channeled his early hardships into love for poetry and painting after the loss of his mother at a young age and his father's remarriage.
His early education took place in various schools and colleges in Kerala and erstwhile Madras, obtaining the first-rank in history from the University of Madras in 1953. Subsequently he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Kerala. He headed the Department of History at Calicut University from 1976 to 1990.
Also read: MGS launched new age in Kerala historiography: scholar
MGS was elected general secretary of the Indian History Congress during 1982-85 and later its president at the Madras annual conference. He was also a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, in 1974-75, and a Visiting Professor at universities in Moscow, Leningrad, Tokyo, and Mexico.
Incidentally, MGS's academic activism continued even after his retirement. He had a stint as Member Secretary of the ICHR from 1990-1992 and later became its Chairman from 2001-03.
He authored several books in Malayalam, including India Charitra Parichayam (1969), Sahitya Aparadhangal (1970), Kerala Charitrathinte Atisthanasilak (1971), Kozhikodinte Katha (2001), and Janadhipatyavum Communissavim (2004).
He also conducted research studies that shed light on various aspects of South Indian culture, such as Cultural Symbiosis in Kerala (1972), Aspects of Aryanisation in Kerala bi (1973), and Calicut the City of Truth Revisited (2006). His perspective on history is outlined in Charitrakarante Darsanam (2011).
Not content with mere intellectual discourse, MGS was also a man of action, spearheading social movements aimed at addressing the problems faced by ordinary people, such as the campaign for the development of the Mananchira-Vellimadukuunnu road in Kozhikode city.
He is survived by his wife Premalatha and their two children, Vijayakumar and Vinaya. The cremation will be held at Mavoor Road crematorium at 4 p.m.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
A Stitch Across Centuries To Sail Across The Sands Of Time
The Goa-made stitched ship, Kaundinya, inducted by the Navy refutes the colonial claim that Europeans taught the world to sail. The vessel demonstrates how India built seaworthy ships thousands of years ago. A 15-member Navy crew is expected to take the motorless vessel to Muscat, following age-old trading routes In one quiet corner of Goa's Divar island, chisels ring out like ritual gongs. The thick scent of fish oil hangs in the air — acrid and unmistakable — seeping into skin, cloth, and memory. Woodchips carpet the floor, mingling with the discarded strands of coir rope, and somewhere in the din, the low murmur of Malayalam swirls between bursts of drilling and the slap of waves beating against timber. In the middle of it all, Babu Sankaran works quietly. His hands, callused by decades of labour, move out of muscle memory — steady, precise, unhurried. He crouches low, chipping away at a wooden pulley he has carved earlier with his hands. Sankaran wears what looks like the same overalls he had for years — frayed at the edges. Once a deep blue, it is bleached by sweat and sun into something paler. Navy's antique armour On May 21, when the yacht was commissioned and inducted into the Indian Navy, Sankaran stood on the pier to take in the INSV Kaundinya. The 20-metre wooden yacht is stitched together like a suit of wooden armour, lashed with coconut husk rope soaked in fish oil and tree sap called kundroos. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like A stress-relief game that everyone around me is playing Elvenar - Play on Browser Learn More Undo There are no nails. No bolts. Just knowledge passed from father to son, from generation to generation, now mostly forgotten. But now, that legacy will sail from the brink of oblivion to the centre of the international seafaring spotlight. The ship has no modern trappings, no creature comforts, and certainly no engine. After all, this is no ordinary ship. It is the result of a 'completely crazy project' dreamed up by a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Sanjeev Sanyal. He was inspired by the painting of a 5th-century vessel painted onto the ancient rock walls of the Ajanta caves. Shipwrights and artisans use the 'I-X' pattern to stitch the planks together, similar to the cross-stitch technique in embroidery, where the 'I' represents a straight stitch and the 'X' represents a cross stitch India, a Sailing Guru A 15-member Navy crew will command the vessel — not with modern motors but under full cotton sails, aided only by winds and trailing oars, as it was done centuries ago. 'When we really attempt to sail it, we will have to really relearn the art of sailing the square, trailing oar, flexible hull ship, something that no living being knows how to do,' Sanyal said. 'This ship is a unique piece of equipment that we have not sailed before.' Indeed, the tradition defies time. Indian sailors have known for millennia how to read the monsoons and how to shape a hull that could rise with the tide and bend with the waves without breaking. 'We must challenge the narrative that Europeans taught the world to sail and travel,' said naval historian Commodore Srikant Kesnur (retd). 'This endeavour could be seen as the revival of cultural memories of India's maritime past. When the crew of this ship sails to various ports and nations, it will arouse curiosity and interest in the name of the ship, the unique form of the ship, and its link with civilisations of the past. ' Ancient ingenuity unsinkable 'This project is a resurrection of the past, a past that for the last 1,000 years was forgotten. It lived etched on coins, on paintings in caves… that ends now. We have India's own stitched ship,' said Prathmesh Dandekar, the managing director at Hodi Innovations, a shipyard at Divar. The Indian Navy and the Union ministry of culture jumped on board and roped in Hodi Innovations to turn the dream into a floating, ocean-going objective: retrace the maritime legacy of ancient Indian seafarers. 'If you see today, we don't have any written information about these kinds of boats. And unfortunately, we have not found any shipwrecks,' Dandekar said. 'So, the whole idea for us is to sail this ship on those ancient trade routes to showcase that back in the day, India could build seaworthy ships and was a big maritime power.' This vessel is expected to sail from Mandvi in Gujarat to Muscat in Oman, following the age-old trading routes that once ferried spices, ivory, cotton, and ideas across the Arabian Sea. Babu Sankaran, master craftsman of stitched ships, has been working on wooden ships for 45 years Rich travel history The art of stitching, with a rope and hands, kept the hull flexible — able to absorb the ocean's fury without splintering. In the ancient days, it allowed Indian ships to reach Arabia, East Africa, and Southeast Asia. That knowledge now rests in a handful of men like Sankaran — 61 years old, invisible in a crowd, his eyes trained to squint against the sun. 'At the age of 16, I went to Oman to work. I've been working on wooden ships for the past 45 years,' Sankaran said. 'There are others in my hometown of Vadakara in Calicut, but we are the last of this generation. This could well be the last ship I have stitched.' He runs his hand along the INSV Kaundinya as it lies moored at the Karwar naval base. Every knot is an act of remembrance of ancient techniques. Every pull of the coir rope is a tug — not just towards the ocean, but towards the past. Sankaran will soon fly to Abu Dhabi to work on another wooden dhow. 'They don't want a stitched ship. They will use nails,' he said. The INSV Kaundinya's voyage may be months away. But the journey has begun to reclaim old knowledge and to again value labour done by hand. The skill, once orally passed from father to son along the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, is now documented for posterity.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
Malayalam writer Benyamin: Our scriptures have a lot to tell us
'All religious scriptures have something to say.' Author Benyamin, who won the JCB Prize for Literature in 2018 for his book, Jasmine Days, adds that this is what inspired him to write the The Second Book of Prophets, translated by Ministhy S and published by Simon and Schuster. The original, Pravachakanmarude Randaam Pusthakam (Malayalam) was published in 2007. The book delves into the 1940s-50s discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls (a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts discovered in 11 caves near the ruins of Qumran, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea) and the Nag Hammadi Library (a collection of over 50 early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered in Upper Egypt near the town of Nag Hammadi in 1945). Born into Christianity, Benny Daniel from Pathanamthitta, Kerala, grew up reading the Bible. 'When you read it as a religious text, you don't notice the characters or attempt to understand them. But, when one reads it as an academic text, you notice them, maybe think of their back stories,' he says. 'Bearing in mind that the Bible has been interpreted in several ways, with this reinterpretation, I hope, the reader is able to find new meaning and understanding of the scripture,' says Benyamin, a former NRI (non-residential Indian) or a pravasi as he likes to call himself. Growing up in a fairly conservative Christian household, he was expected to go to church every Sunday and pray every day. Nonetheless, Benyamin always viewed the religious text with an objective eye. 'The more you read, the stronger your base; the different themes and layers within the scriptures have a lot to tell,' he says. His 2008 Malayalam-language novel Aadujeevitham, was published by Green Books Private Limited, Thrissur. The book won him recognition in the form of bagging the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for novel in 2009. It was translated into English and German in 2012, and later to Arabic in 2014. In 2024, it was adapted into a Malayalam-language biographical survival drama film, titled The Goat Life, directed, and co-produced by Blessy. Still basking in the success the film, Benyamin says it is simply awe-inspiring to be recognised by readers across regions. If, in the Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis humanises Christ by showcasing his tryst with various temptations. Benyamin, goes a step further and paints Christ as a revolutionary in The Second Book of Prophets, as someone who stands up to autocracy and class divide. 'Bearing in mind that the Bible has been interpreted in several ways, with this reinterpretation, I hope, the reader is able to find new meaning and understanding of the scripture,' says Benyamin. The incidental writer A mechanical engineer Benyamin Daniel, began his writing journey in 2000, with the publication of a collection of short stories. Benyamin is an incidental writer. His words — whether in Nishabda Sancharangal (Silent Journeys) or Jasmine Days — dig deep into the psyche of a reader. And this is what he hopes his latest work can do too. 'Readers reflect on the struggles that often form within a rebellion — the difference in opinion among the rebels — in this case, among Christ and his disciples, like Lazarus being ratted out, Judas' betrayal of Christ, and the conflict the leader himself faces from within when faced with temptations.' Talking about his style of writing, Benyamin says displacement and migration, whether literal or spiritual, are the themes of his books, because he feels that migration and embarking on a journey, is what life is all about — be it moving for for a job, trade, family. Constant movement has always been a part of man's evolution. 'Displacement is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening since the beginning of human history: war, slavery, natural disasters, and riots have all caused it. One of the main prayers of the Jews in the Old Testament was that they be delivered from exile. Even after reaching their dreamland, they could not experience freedom. The Romans conquered them. When telling the story of the struggle against them, it is natural that the sorrows of displacement will be embedded in it.' Discussing the years he spent in Bahrain as a mechanical engineer Benyamin says. 'I left my home and country and lived in a foreign land for two decades. I have experienced its loneliness, isolation, numbness, and existential problems very well. So, I can go ahead and write about that topic in depth.' 'Understanding the lives and struggles of migrant communities, their politics, circumstance and so on, is a part of studying humans, making us better humans,' Benyamin says. 'Also when we as readers traverse with them (the characters) through the story to his or her destination, whether physical or spiritual, it gives a reader satisfaction, the sated feeling one gets from reading a piece of good literature,' he adds. Each book by the author has been distinct from one another. 'Non-linear writing; that is how I approach putting a book together,' Benyamin says. He says he does not believe in sticking to formulaic writing. 'I don't create a mould and fit my story around it. I have a story in my head — I start by writing what I know about — be it a character or a scene and take it from there,' he says. He compares it to construction of a highway, say from Ernakulam to Thiruvananthapuram. 'The work for the highway can begin from anywhere, maybe Alappuzha, maybe somewhere near Thiruvananthapuram, but as long as there is a plan in place, the project will be done.' The author says that he looks up to Malayalam writers like OV Vijayan, Mohammed Bashir and M Mukundan, and enjoys reading classic and contemporary writers like Orhan Pamuk, Georgi Gospodinov, Nikos Kazantzakis, and Kafka. Speaking of future projects he says, 'I have just completed a novel, which will be published in July. Shelvy (Raj) was an editor and poet who played an important role in the history of Malayalam publishing. The novel is based on his life.' The Second Book of Prophets priced ₹599 is available on Amazon and all major bookstores
The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
Tamil translation of Madhav Gadgil's autobiography A Walk Up the Hill launched
The Tamil translation of eminent ecologist Prof. Madhav Gadgil's autobiography A Walk Up the Hill: Living with Peopleand Nature was launched in Chennai on Thursday. Published in 2023, the book was written in the form of a memoir that included stories and episodes that Prof. Gadgil encountered during his long years of field surveys in different biodiversity hotspots across India, including the Western Ghats. Prof. Gadgil, who spoke to the audience through videoconferencing from Pune, recalled his long association with Tamil Nadu that began in 1973 when he started work in the Nilgiris and subsequently in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. He was also tasked with preparing a report on the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve following this. He expressed happiness that the book has been translated in Tamil after being made available in Marathi, Konkani, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Bengali languages. He said this would enable a deeper penetration of his ideas and thoughts among people across these States. The Tamil translation, brought out by the Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation, was done by N. Manoharan, a professor of Tamil who retired from Chittur Government College, Palakkad. V. Arivudai Nambi, independent biodiversity expert, who did the scientific editing of the publication, said the book had several chapters on different topics, in which a large number of his scientific publications were available in open source. The content of the book should be viewed as a starting point for deeper dive into the issues and topics. Giving examples, he said that the book had chapters on sacred groves, forms of nomadism and pastorals, and bamboo management, which the author wrote extensively in the form of scientific papers. A. Sathish, Associate Professor of Tamil, International Institute of Tamil Studies, who did the language editing for the publication, said that the book dwelt upon the fundamental question of development that included community participation. He said policymaking in conservation should be preceded by pilot studies to check for feasibility before scaling up. Shankara Saravanan, Joint Director, Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation and R.J. Ranjit Daniels, Founder Trustee, CareEarth Trust also spoke at the occasion.
