Njattyela Sreedharan, self-taught linguist and creator of quadrilingual Dravidian dictionary, dies at 87
Njattyela Sreedharan with the multilingual dictionary he compiled.
Njattyela Sreedharan, a self-taught linguist whose monumental work brought together four Dravidian languages into a single dictionary, died early Thursday morning (August 13, 2025) while undergoing treatment for age-related ailments in Kannur, Kerala. He was 87.
Mr. Sreedharan was celebrated for compiling the Chathur Dravida Bhasha Padhaparichayam, a work hailed as a milestone in the study of South Indian languages. Known to many as Kannur’s very own Hermann Gundert, his legacy lies not only in his books but also in his belief that language unites communities.
Cultivated over decades of perseverance, his work remains a testament to the power of self-education and cultural curiosity.
At the age of 82, when most would consider slowing down, Mr. Sreedharan has painstakingly compiled over 1,000 words from Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.
The 860-page volume, first published with the help of the Vayalalam unit of the Senior Citizens’ Forum during his tenure as president, has become a rare reference treasure. For each Malayalam entry, he provided equivalent words in the other three languages along with variations in meaning and usage.
In May 2023, the Kerala Language Institute published the second edition of his work. Plans for Malayalam-Kannada and Malayalam-Telugu dictionaries soon followed. When the publishers hesitated to take up the task, the Senior Citizens Forum again stepped in and raised ₹4 million to produce 500 copies.
An unconventional path to scholarship
Mr. Sreedharan’s path to scholarship was unconventional. He was forced to drop out of school and started working in a beedi factory in Palakkad. Between shifts, he took his ESCL (eighth standard public) exam and picked up Tamil from the local community in Kalpathy. Drawn to the world of words, he immersed himself in literacy programs, teaching others while deepening his own understanding of scriptures, grammar, and colloquial speech.
The turning point came during his tenure as a planner in the Department of Public Works when he met TP Sukumaran, a professor at Nirmalagiri College, Kannur. Encouraged to create a dictionary of Malayalam dialects, Mr. Sreedharan expanded on this idea and instead decided to link the four major Dravidian languages.
He learned Kannada from colleague Govinda Naik and writer C. Raghavan and spent weeks in Karnataka to immerse himself in his studies. He found a teacher for Telugu at Taliparamba’s District Agricultural Farm officer Eashwaraprasad Rao and his wife Seethamma and further honed his skills with repeated stays in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh.
After retiring from the Irrigation Department in 1994, Mr. Sreedharan devoted himself fully to the dictionary. His earlier Malayalam-Tamil dictionary, published by the Kerala State Institute of Languages in 2012, indicated the extent of his vision. However, multilingual work ran into obstacles – lack of proofreaders, lack of evaluators and institutional hesitancy – until the Senior Forum finally supported the project.
The final release, which he often referred to as his great achievement, cemented his reputation as a cultural bridge builder.
Over the years, Mr. Sreedharan has been awarded the Dr. TP Sukumaran Master Award, Gundert Prize and Indian Reading Olympiad Special Jury Award. He also served as the president of the Kannur taluk Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham and was a member of the State Council of the NGO Union.
Published – 14 Aug 2025 14:49 IST