Renowned linguist and ambassador of Tamil and Malayalam to the world Ronald E. Asher, 96, died in Edinburgh, Scotland.
He passed away soon after Christmas, said his student and Central University of Kerala Associate Professor P. Sreekumar quoting Prof. Asher’s son David Asher from Scotland.
There was uncertainty among the writers and linguists in Kerala and Tamil Nadu about Prof. Asher’s death as none could contact the British linguist’s family. Condolences started pouring in after Dr. Sreekumar broke the news on his social media wall on Wednesday.
Although Prof. Asher is known to Malayalis as the man who discovered and exposed Vaikom Mohammed Basheer as a “universal writer”, he was the most popular linguist in India from Europe.
According to Dr. Sreekumar, he was a professor of linguistics with God’s own signature on his heart in Tamil and Malayalam. A linguist who specialised in Dravidian languages, Prof. Asher is the most intimate European translator who popularised modern literature of Tamil and Malayalam in English.
Prof. Asher started his relation with India in 1953 when he reached Changam in North Arcot district of Tamil Nadu as an assistant lecturer in linguistics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He turned to Malayalam in 1963.
Prof. Asher translated several books in Malayalam and Tamil into English. He also wrote many literary reviews about Malayalam and Tamil literature.
“If Prof. Asher had not discovered and translated Basheer, Malayalam would have lost a global writer,” said poet Alankode Leelakrishnan. “He not only translated the Beypore Sultan, but made creative interventions as well.”
Writer M.K. Gopinathan Nair, popularly known as Vaisakhan, said that Malayalam owed so much to Prof. Asher that he would be remembered as long as the language exists. “Translating Basheer is very difficult. Basheer’s works are often beyond translation. The service Prof. Asher did to Malayalam is extraordinary,” said Mr. Vaisakhan.
Writer M.N. Karassery, who had a long association with Prof. Asher, was at New Ham in London on Wednesday, but could not visit Prof. Asher’s family. Prof. Karassery said they were planning a function to commemorate his friend. Prof. Asher had been to Prof. Karassery’s house when he visited Kerala in 2012.
Prof. Asher was a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi.
He was a visiting professor of Tamil at the University of Chicago, of linguistics at the University of Illinois, of Malayalam and Tamil at the Michigan State University, of Dr. R. P. Sethu Pillai Silver Jubilee Endowment at the University of Madras, of linguistics at the University of Minnesota, of Collège de France, Paris, of linguistic and international communication at the International Christian University, Tokyo, and of 20th-century Malayalam Literature at the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
Prof. Asher was the first occupant of Vaikom Mohammed Basheer Chair at Mahatma Gandhi University. He received the Basheer Memorial Award in 2010 instituted by the Pravasi Trust.
Prof. Asher served the University of Edinburgh from 1965 in many capacities until he retired as vice principal in 1993. He was president of the International Association for Tamil Research from 1983 to 1990. Even after retirement, he continued his association with the University of Edinburgh.
He reportedly was injured after a fall on the university campus and was confined to his home.
Dr. Sreekumar said that Prof. Asher had acquired the goodness of Tamil and Malayalam. “He was the first true ambassador of Malayalam and Tamil to the world.”
