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New Indian Express
27-04-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
MGS went by scientific temper, not famed fables
KOZHIKODE: Eminent historian , who evaluated history using the microscope of scientific temper and not by popular fables, passed away at his residence in Malaparamba, Kozhikode, on Saturday following age-related ailments. He was 92. A respected scholar and former chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), the native of Ponnani in Malappuram laid the foundation stone for scientific study of history in the country. A product of human school of thought, MGS often found himself at odds with political parties. Over the years, he clashed with the Left, the Congress, and the BJP in Kerala, unafraid to voice his dissent regardless of the party in power. His mortal remains were cremated at the Mavoor Road crematorium on Saturday by 4:30pm, after ministers including A K Saseendran paid final respects. MGS even questioned Modi on 'plastic surgery' remark His seminal contribution was the study of the second Chera dynasty that culminated in his book 'Perumals of Kerala', a landmark work in the state's historiography. He differed with the legendary Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai on the issue of Chera dynasty but never belittled Pillai's contribution to Kerala history. He also made notable discoveries, including stone and copper plate inscriptions, which opened new avenues for historical research in the state. Known for his irreverent approach, the historian successfully demolished many myths associated with Kerala history that were part of the state's popular imagination. In his early years, MGS maintained close ties with communist leaders. He has a history of both guiding E M S Namboodiripad to a hideout at midnight and clashing with him in later years. In one pointed remark, he questioned EMS's failure to oppose being called a 'Thambran' (feudal lord). Later in life, MGS concluded that Marxist socialism was fundamentally incompatible with democratic principles. MGS joined the ICHR when the Congress was in power. Yet, he did not shy away from criticising the party, emerging as a vocal opponent of what he described the party's culture of family rule. It was perhaps this independent stance that prompted the BJP-led Vajpayee government to appoint him as chairman of the ICHR in 2001. However, his tenure was short-lived. True to his principles, MGS resigned in protest against government interference in the council's decisions. Later, he made it clear that had the Narendra Modi government offered him the position, he would have declined. MGS criticised BJP's attempts to project mythological narratives from epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata as historical fact. On one occasion, MGS publicly questioned Modi's remark at a Science Congress, where the PM claimed the elephant-headed deity Ganesha was evidence of the world's first plastic surgery. 'What nonsense is this? It is inconceivable that those in responsible positions would say such things,' MGS had remarked. He also questioned the claim that Pushpak Vimana, a flying chariot mentioned in the Ramayana, was the world's first aircraft. Born on August 20, 1932, as Muttayil Govinda Menon Shankara Narayanan, he completed his graduation in economics and PG in history from the University of Madras, securing first rank. He began his teaching career in 1954 at Zamorin (Guruvayurappan) College, Kozhikode, later joining the Kozhikode centre of the University of Kerala in 1964 and the University of Calicut in 1968. MGS earned his PhD from the University of Kerala in 1973. He was an active member of the Indian History Congress from 1974 and retired in 1992 as the head of the history department at the University of Calicut. He went on to hold several key positions, including member-secretary of the ICHR and chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Kerala State Archives (2004-05). He is survived by wife Premalatha, son Vijayakumar and daughter Vinaya Manoj.
New Indian Express
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
MGS Narayanan was a relentless fighter: M G Sasibhooshan
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Remembering how would always encourage ideas but seldom endorse them, historian M G Sasibhooshan reminisced how MGS became a critic of precision. 'Often, his smile was the only response we got. But when he truly loved something, he would share his thoughts openly. That approval meant the world for me,' said Sasibhooshan. Speaking of his masterpiece Perumals of Kerala, Sasibhooshan said the work freed Kerala's medieval history from myths and misconceptions. 'His 1996 work Perumals of Kerala analysed both social and economic history along with political history. It is his masterpiece,' opined Sasibhooshan. He added that one of his most-cherished memories was when MGS asked him to massage his shoulders the last time he visited MGS at his home in Kozhikode. 'He was not someone who would ask such things. When he made that request, I knew he considered me as somebody special,' he added. Sasibooshan remembered how once, after he wrote an article, MGS not only praised it but also suggested that it should be turned into a book. 'That was precious for me. We share the same initials, so people used to call me 'Junior MGS' as if considering me as a successor,' said Sasibhooshan. Beyond his work as a historian, M G S Narayanan was a remarkable epigraphist and artist, said Sasibhooshan. 'He identified that Bhaskara Ravi Chakravarthi and Manu Kuladithyan were the same person, as well as that Godaradi and Vijayaragadevan were the same,' Sasibhooshan noted. Though MGS was known internationally for his work, serving as a visiting professor at prestigious universities such as Harvard, Oxford, and Moscow, he never compromised on his principles. Sasibhooshan also recalled M G S Narayanan's talent for art. 'In his younger days, he used to compete with Artist Namboodiri and even win. He was truly an all-rounder. He had a heart of gold, and his smile was one of the best I've ever seen. It is a huge loss,' concluded Sasibhooshan.
New Indian Express
27-04-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
MGS is a historian who salvaged Kerala history from myths and legends, says KKN Kurup
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 92-year-old historian who departed on Saturday, has scripted a new chapter in secular historiography that has a scientific approach. Born in the last decades of our nationalist movement, was able to cherish echoes and ethos of leaders like K P Kesava Menon, K Kelappan, EMS and K Damodaran. MGS arrived on the scene when the studies on Kerala were handled by experts in Malayalam, and scientific historiography was camouflaged by myths and legends. The unification of Kerala in 1956 inspired him to trace the history and culture of Kerala, reconstructing the later Chera Kingdom with exact chronology from different epigraphical relics. He mastered early scripts like Kolezhuthu and Vattezhuth and wrote his magnum opus 'Perumals of Kerala', a doctoral study under the guidance of Prof P K Narayana Pillai. Indian History Congress was held at the fledgling Calicut University in 1974 with more than 700 delegates including top-ranking historians which was inaugurated by K P Kesava Menon. In fact, this meeting of scholars and teachers inaugurated an era of new learning, writing, and teaching of history. This trend could carry on to the present even after his career as chairman of Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR). I have seen many scholars in India and abroad who are specialised in their respective areas. But MGS was one who was able to share his ideas and knowledge in every channel of human creativity and intellectual achievements. For instance, MGS wrote a masterly foreword for my cultural anthropological work, The Cult of Theyyam and Hero Worship in Kerala (Calcutta, 1973). In his early years he wrote poems, cultural articles and guided doctoral dissertations in different areas like traditional historical accounts to the Punnapra-Vayalar agrarian movement. Only a versatile genius can deliver such different goods according to the needs of the client. I do remember his arguments in academic seminars, committee meetings and witnessed his true love and affection to the student community. He encouraged all, including outsiders, to freely air their views and was untouched by personal or academic rivalries. On one occasion he recommended a centre for Kayyur for Peasant Studies in Kasaragod. At the same time, he could write an article for the public on the achievements of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Being highly influenced by the humanism of writer M Govindan in his youth, even in the career as an academician and administrator, he followed benevolent humanism and rationalism. I have more occasions than any other academician to make him a role model, and evaluate him as a student, fellow delegate, speaker, writer, and researcher in different conferences in India and abroad. His academic experiences in Russia, Japan, the US and the Oriental Institute, London, were helpful to his colleagues, students and even the public. MGS could shed light on Indian historiography and deconstruct the Euro-centric, colonial historical writing. William Logan had written in Malabar Manual about scholars who can be branded as 'Sons of Soil' who could write the scientific history of a region to help their historical progress and development. Surely MGS belonged to this category.
Time of India
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
MGS Narayanan — a historian whovoiced against himself
MGS Narayanan passed away, indeed, a sad demise, inevitable though. He goes down in history as a genuine scholar-historian defined by a dedication to rigorous research, critical thinking and a commitment to empirical analysis of the past. A historian who prioritised primary sources , engaged in thoughtful interpretation and put across findings with clarity and precision. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his bereaved family. It was a blessing that I had MGS as my informal teacher, mentor and friend, whose unstinting support by way of making available his profound scholarship and expertise that turned out to be invaluable to whatever humble research endeavour that I undertook. A great loss not only to the student community and fellow historians, but also to the public, to whom MGS was accessible. Leftist historian and right liberal critic MGS had always been a leftist in history-writing with his avowed adherence to Marx's theory. Nevertheless, he used to be an inconsistent but staunch critic of Marxist party politics in the state, for reasons quite unclear. Interestingly, all the researchers mentored by him are leftists without this hiatus, that hardly ever mattered in his relationship with them or vice versa. He was always bold in speaking truth to power. Historians in the country still remember his captivating critical speech that kept all the rightists spellbound in the Indian History Congress session on the NCERT-Textbook Controversy during the Janata govt of 1977-79. In the regional civil society, MGS had always been a liberal rightist making skeptical remarks against the Left but without seriously engaging himself in public policy matters. A name of fame, his public statements did matter. But he had not let the Right to contain him. He never allowed any section to represent him either. As a researcher and professional historian, he walked and that became the path. He wrote his magnum opus Perumals of Kerala , apparently a dynastic history, but a seamlessly woven regional history of economy, society, polity and culture of about 400 years from 800-1200 CE. His curiosity in understanding the past through the primary sources led not only to writing a history strikingly fresh and pathbreaking but also to the revalidation and expansion of the sources including what he discovered. A teacher of distinction A true democrat, MGS had been a liberal teacher in the literal sense. He used to treat his students as friends and enjoyed encountering them academically. In the classroom, he bored them with hairsplitting analyses of the primary data and the complicated reconstruction of history through the application of subtle indications that he could discover. Outside the classroom he allowed them to argue with him. MGS was not conscious about the process of engaged learning involved in his friendly and interactive relationship with students outside the classroom. It was his self-delighting enterprise by nature which could effortlessly render the awe-inspiring experience of engaged learning plausible outside the classroom. He enjoyed arguing with anybody without being flippant under the prejudice of status. Whoever could rise to his expectations do matter today in the knowledge-field. (The writer is a historian and former vice-chancellor, MG University)
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
M.G.S. Narayanan was a fearless critic of power, recalls historian Rajan Gurukkal
M.G.S. Narayanan's demise is indeed a major loss. A world renowned historian from Kerala, who made a radical shift in the historiography of early south India in general and Kerala in particular, has passed away leaving a lasting gap not easily bridgeable. He was able to put the Department of History of the University of Calicut, where he had served as the head for over 15 years, prominently on the world map of academic research in history. He was a nationally emulated historian of leftist perspective adhering to Marx's theory, but at the same time, a right liberalist positioned against communalism of all types. He is known for his thesis on the Perumals of Kerala, which A.L. Basham, the renowned Indologist, praised as a heavily documented awe-inspiring thesis full of insights normally uncommon in a regional history. He has not published many books, but all that he brought out are seminal works containing path-breaking interpretations that shook the historiography of south India. In the historian's craft, methodology, and erudition, MGS has made lasting contributions. MGS, the teacher As a teacher, MGS in the classroom taught the source-based creation of historical knowledge but outside the classroom he made engaged learning plausible through arguments and self-criticism. It was his passion for arguing with his students without being flippant under the prejudice of their knowledge or experience, which provided students the challenging task of engaged learning. I remember occasions of unquestioned acceptance of his views by students exciting dissent in him. He used to question his own views quoted by his students. He would not leave them unless they capture the thought process behind his ideas. He was the central voice in the Indian History Congress during the first NCERT textbook controversy during the Janata government (1977-79). The community of historians in the country honour him for his fearless criticism of power. His demise, hence, draws nation-wide attention. (as told to G. Krishnakumar)
