M G S Narayanan

Early life and education

Muttayil Govindamenon Sankara Narayanan was born at Ponnani, Malabar district on 20 August 1932.

He had his early education at Parappanangadi, Ponnani, Calicut and Thrissur. He later moved to Madras (present day Chennai) to pursue his master's degree in history from Madras Christian College. He topped the University of Madras in his post-graduation in 1953, later taught in Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College, Calicut; and enjoyed UGC Research Fellowship during his doctoral studies from the University of Kerala. His 1972 thesis titled Perumals of Kerala was formally published in 1996.

Much of M. G. S. Narayanan's early works on the Chera Perumals of Makotai can be treated as "continuation" of the studies by Ilamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai (1904 – 1973). The much heralded doctoral thesis is known for its "uncompromising commitment to historical method".

Revisiting medieval Chera grants

The rereading of an inscription of Chera Perumal Kotaravi (Netumpuram Tali) is credited by M. G. S. as a turning point in his career. While investigating the Chera rulers of Makotai, M. G. S. stumbled upon some misreadings by Ilamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai. Pillai, without copying the inscription first hand and referring only to the description in Travancore Archaeological Series, assumed that the position of the Jupiter was written wrong in the inscription. This was unusual for a document from Kerala. The Travancore Archeological Series, the standard reference book of inscriptions, also lacked image of the inscription of Kotaravi. Challenging the assumption of his mentor, M. G. S. copied the inscription firsthand. M. G. S.'s assumption turned out to be correct and Pillai, being an enthusiastic critic of the interpretations of earlier of Kerala historians, accepted the new readings.

Neglecting the initial renderings made by the Tranvancore officers, M. G. S. continued to revisit the medieval Chera inscriptions. His most rewarding reinterpretation, changing certain phrase from "governor of that natu, Vikkiraman" to "governor of Eranatu, Vikkiraman", came with the new translation of the Kollam inscription of the last Chera Perumal. Not Surprisingly, the Vikkiraman was the name given to the first ruler of Calicut in the infamous Keralolpatti traditions of regional history.

Perumals of Kerala

Perumals of Kerala (1996), based on the now-famous Ph.D. dissertation submitted by M. G. S. to the University of Kerala in 1972, is often considered a landmark in historiography of Kerala.

Ilamkulam P. N. Kunjan Pillai, a mentor figure to M. G. S., studied exhaustively inscriptions from the ninth century CE, and claimed they were related to a single line of kings that ruled present day Kerala, from Makotai (Kodungalloor). He christened the state the "Second Chera Empire" or the "Kulasekhara Empire" and regarded the Brahmin janmi form of landlordism, matriliny present among Nairs in Kerala and the infamous Devadasi system as products of the post-Chera age. Pillai challenged the very foundations of the then existing William Logan-Padmanabha Menon construction of Kerala history. He traced the Brahmin landlordism and Nair matriliny to the so-called "Hundred Years’ War" fought between the Cheras of Makotai and the Cholas, which led to the ultimate decline and fall of the "Empire".

M. G. S. closely re-examined stone inscriptions travelling across Kerala and the estampages preserved in the office of the Chief Epigraphist of the Union Government. He also discovered and deciphered many unpublished, unnoticed Vatteluttu inscriptions, revisited Pillai’s assumptions about the social and political conditions of Kerala under the "Kulasekhara Empire". Far from being any form of empire, he termed the state under of the Cheras of Makotai as a federation of independent provinces held together by an all-powerful Brahmin oligarchy and a "ritual" monarch known as "Chera Perumal".

M. G. S.'s findings and assumptions, albeit somewhat different from his doctoral thesis forty years ago, are revisited in his most recent book, Perumals of Kerala. Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy (2013).

Academic career

M. G. S. Narayanan started his formal academic career in 1965 at the Post-Graduation Centre of Kerala University at Calicut. Later, when the University of Calicut was established in 1968, he served in the Department of History in various positions (Lecturer, Reader (1973) and Professor (1976)) before retiring in 1992 as Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, a post he held from 1970. He was instrumental in developing a specialized library and museum of Kerala history and culture at the university, and in starting the Calicut University Historical Series publications. He was also known for conducting workshops and summer institutes, modernizing the syllabus, introducing semester scheme and in starting departmental publications. As General Editor of the Calicut University Historical Series, he brought out 3 volumes of sources for Kerala history, including Vanjeri Grandhavari, 1987, which he himself edited.

Since 1969, he was closely associated with the Indian History Congress, of which he was member of Executive Committee for several years from 1974; Local Secretary (1976); President of Section I - Ancient India (1978); Joint Secretary for many years, and General Secretary (1983-1985). He was President of Indian History and Culture Society (2001). He took active part in establishing and promoting South Indian History Congress, Epigraphical Society of India, and Place Name Society of India; and has been Member of Executive Committee and President of these bodies at different times. He was member of the following academic bodies: Editorial Committee, Journal of Indian History, Indian Historical Review; Editorial Board, History Text Books in the NCERT; and Team Project on Socio-Religious Movements, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.

M. G. S. Narayanan was also a Member of UGC Panel in History, UGC National Lecturer, UGC Visiting Professor, School of Social Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam (1992-93); Visiting Professor, Mangalore University (1996) and Chairman, Technical Advisory Committee for Kerala State Archives (2004-5).

Narayanan served as First Member Secretary of the Indian Council of Historical Research under Irfan Habib in 1990-92 and later as its Chairman from July 2001 to December 2003.

Chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research

When the Indian People's Party (Bharatiya Janata Party)-led National Democratic Alliance government came to power in India after the 1999 general elections, one of its priorities was to ensure that academic and research institutions are headed by persons who are not hostile to the ideology of the centre-right politics.

In 2001, M. G. S. emerged as the consensus candidate for the post of the Chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). It was a time when the National Democratic Alliance government in Delhi was attacking the Indian Council of Historical Research as being Left-oriented. Even though his nomination to the Chairman post, by the Bharatiya Janata Party, had raised some controversy, mainly in his home state of Kerala, it was by and large welcomed by academic circles all over India. The media described Narayanan as Bharatiya Janata Party's "non-controversial" candidate for the post of Chairman. "They may have invited me because I was acceptable to the Right as well as to the Left, and to the North (India) and South (India). I consented on condition no one would interfere with my work. The Union Education Minister (Murli Manohar Joshi) assured me that", M. G. S. said in an interview. ICHR insiders never expected any controversy over his appointment because, according to them, despite his proximity to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Narayanan was not a "hardliner".

It was alleged that the subsequent "ouster" of M. G. S Narayanan as Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research, in late 2003, was a part of the Ministry of Human Resource Development's scheme to "saffronise" the agenda in academia. Narayanan made known his displeasure over the manner in which the Ministry had appointed Kapil Kumar, a Professor of History, as the Member-Secretary of the Council. This was the immediate reason, though Narayanan had, by taking certain unpopular stands, especially in the context of the new National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks, also upset the Ministry. Narayanan had criticized some of the new NCERT history textbooks. He had given the impression of a no-nonsense academic as far as history was concerned, which may have become too difficult for the Ministry to handle. Several important publications were brought out during his tenure, including six volumes on the Labour Movement in India.

Even M. G. S.'s bitter critics acknowledge that he has brought a certain discipline to the ICHR during his tenure. "We did three things never done before: we published guidelines for research projects; brought out a newsletter with information on fellowships and grants; activated regional centres such as Guwahati and Bangalore, which had been neglected for long. The idea was to break the Delhi-centred outlook of ICHR" , M. G. S. said in an interview.

Since 1969, he was member of Executive Committee of the Indian History Congress and later went on to become its General Secretary during 1982-85. He was President of Indian History and Culture Society (2001) and member of academic bodies like Journal of Indian History and Indian Historical Review.

Political views

M. G. S. Narayanan is generally considered as a centre-right historian. According to Ramachandra Guha, Narayanan can be best described as a man of the “anti-Left”.

Research and publications

Narayanan has published numerous research papers in Indian and international journals. In 1994 he served as chief-editor of Malabar, a compilation of research extracts brought out over the last century.

The more prominent among his works include:

M. G. S. Narayanan co-authored with his student Kesavan Veluthat the chapter on the history of Nambutiri community in Agni, the Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, Berkeley, 1983. He has also published many books in Malayalam, including: