MGS@90, a three-day webinar series jointly organised by Kozhikode Life (Letters International Festival) and Bookart, an online book store, to commemorate the 90th birthday of Kozhikode-based historian MGS Narayanan, concluded on Monday.
The webinar was inaugurated on Saturday by noted historian M.R.Raghava Warrier, who hailed MGS for launching a new age in Kerala history by anchoring history writing on inscriptions and other archaeological documents. Another historian, Kesavan Veluthat, recalled that MGS had brought a paradigm shift in Kerala historiography through his system-based approach. Historian and vice chairman of the Kerala Higher Education Council, Rajan Gurukkal, shared his experience how MGS corrected him right from the beginning of his research aspirations by making him understand through hands-on training.
MGS, in his response, emphasised the need for historians to have an independent perspective and that there was no final word in history. “What we have is only unending interpretations. However, such interpretations should not be a product of misinterpretation of data, misrecognition of concepts, or born out of sectarian interests”, he said. T.B. Venugopala Panikkar, K.P. Ammukutty, Dinesan Vadakkiniyil, C.J. George, and Mahesh Mangalatt spoke on the occasion.
The second webinar was on the topic “Historian's craft and Kerala’s pasts”. Dileep Menon, Manu Devadevan, Sanalmohan, M.T. Ansari, and J. Devika took part in the panel discussion. The last webinar was on the topic “MGS and Beyond” in which P.P. Abdul Razaq, K. Shibi, K.P. Rajesh, E.Santhosh, and Abhilash Malayil presented papers.
