M. G. S. Narayanan Biography 
Muttayil Govindamenon Sankara Narayanan, also known as M. G. S and M. G. S. Narayanan is a historian, writer and academician from Kerala. He is a former Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research. As a historian, his contributions to Kerala and its culture and literature is really appreciable. Excavations in Kodungallur of Thrissur district in 1969-1970, discovery of many medieval Vattezhuttu inscriptions of Kerala and Bindusara Brahmi inscription of Sanchi are among his noted contributions. He has also published many research works, about the history and culture of Kerala. His works have been published in Malayalam and English languages.
He was born in Ponnani of Malabar on 20th August 1932. He did his schooling at Ponanni and continued his studies in Kozhikode, Thrissur and Chennai. For higher studies he reached Chennai, where he took Master’s in History. He was a brilliant student during his academic years and was the Madras University topper for the year 1953. He completed his Ph.D. from the University of Kerala in 1973. ‘Perumals of Kerala’ was his thesis. He also received UGC Research Fellowship during this period.
He is well versed in classical Sanskrit and ancient South Indian scripts and his research works were concentrated on to Brahmi, Vattezhuttu and Grantha scripts of the historic age. He started his professional career as a faculty in 1965 joining P. G. Centre of Kerala University at Kozhikode and has worked in many educational institutions across south India. He became Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in University of Calicut and got retired in 1992. He was the First Member Secretary of the Indian Council of Historical Research under Irfan Habib in 1990-1992 and appointed as chairman in 2001 where he served for a couple of years.
Published: N/A
Updated: September 25, 2014
