Mayor of Kozhikode Bee Philip introduced MGS Narayanan Rose for his 92nd birthday. | Photo Credit: File Photos
Most history textbooks tell us that the Portuguese traveler Vasco da Gama landed in a backpad near what Calicut was then 20 May 1498, which announced the arrival of colonial powers on the Indian coast. However, the historian MGS Narayanan, who died here on Saturday (April 26, 2025), often called a direct lie.
MGS quoted the chronicles of the courtiers of the Portuguese kings, as the historian was known, said that such an incident had never happened. He often ridiculed the archaeological survey of India to install memorial stone for travelers in the backpad. According to MGS, although gamma and his team could anchor their ship from the coast, they did not land there. He said that Gama could land in Panthalayini near Koyilanda Kollam because of the port. None had a pad.
The MGS not only discovered such historical nuggets about Kozhikode, but were also part of the city and wrote about it considerably. Calicut: The city of Truth was revised and Kozhikodinte Katha is remarkable.
The connection of the late historian with Kozhikod began in 1947, when he joined Zamorin’s Guruvayooraspan College as a high school. MGS has developed interest in history after listening to the lectures of the historian KV Krishna Ayyara, author of Zamorins of Calicut. After Christian College history in 1953, he returned to his alma mater in Kozhikode as a member of the faculty. Since then, for MGS, a native of Pappanangadi, has been Kozhikode at home.
According to his close collaborators, MGS shared a deep personal bond with the main writers of the time, such as MT Vasudevan Nair and other cultural activists, because he was also interested in literature and painting. Old timers resemble the live debates and discussions they used to organize in different parts of the city.
When the University of Kerala set up a postgraduate center for the GuruvayoRAPPan College, it was named there in 1965. When the center became part of the University of Calicut in 1968, it joined as a lecturer. In 1992 he retired as a professor and head of the History Department and also a dean of humanities and social sciences.
Given that modern Kozhikode has few historical structures, MGS has repeatedly written about the need for a proper museum to show the past of the city. He was among the first to criticize the demolition of Hajura Kacheri in Manachira, the administrative headquarters of Malabar and the model of the Anglo-Indian style of architecture.
He was also active in sociopolitical spheres. MEP Vasudevan, a member of the Road Committee for the Road Committee of the Manachira-Velimadukunnn, recalls that MGS was elected president when the forum was established in 2012. MGS also joined some cultural groups as their patron until recently.
Published – April 26 2025 20:23
