Renowned Historian and author of 'Historiography: 500 BC to AD 2000'; Prof. E. Sreedharan Passed away this morning (02.08.2020) Sunday 3.30 AM at Trivandrum

Prof E. Sreedharan was born on 15, December 1933, in Nellayya in South Malabar, and had his school education in Cherpalchery. He continued his higher studies at Zamorin's College, Kozhikkode, and the Government Victoria College Palghat. He took his M.A in History with First Rank from the Madras Christian College in 1958.

He has taught history for thirty years in different colleges and universities in Kerala; including University College, Trivandrum; Government Brennen College Tellicheri, the Institute of Distance Education, University of Kerala, and Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady. From 1979 he taught Historiography and Historical Methodology. After retirement he devoted himself entirely to writing the books A Textbook of Historiography: 500 BC to AD 2000 and its companion volume A Manual of Historical Research Methodology.

The first one published by Orient Longman, is a favorite manual with teacher, researchers and students worldwide who quote from it to lend credence and authority to their own statements. His second work on research methodology is intended to meet the needs of students in Indian colleges and universities. Both books have been translated into Hindi and other Indian languages.

A textbook of World History (1500-1950) written in Malayalam by the author and published by the State Institute of Languages, Trivandrum, under Govt of Kerala went into ten editions in ten years. He has written a detailed biography of Napoleon Bonaparte in Malayalam, and a monograph on the painter prince Raja Ravi Varma. He has many research papers and conference presentations to his credit of which the widely discussed ones are 'The Beginnings of the Scientific Attitude in Ancient India' based on ideas in the Rig Veda and the Sankhya philosophy; 'How Old is the Social Contract Theory?' based on the Agganna Suttanta of the Pali Digha Nikaya purporting to show that the theory in question had been propounded in its developed form by the Buddha in the sixth century BC; and 'Indology and the Recovery of Ancient Indian History' detailing the services of Sir William Jones and of the other pioneer European Indologists in recovering Ancient Indian History.

Prof. Sreedharn’s authority of history was legendary and perhaps the single characteristic of his persona unquestionable to anybody who came in contact with him. At his passing, we have lost a great historian, and an unique teacher of historiography of the genre of R G Collingwood and Marc Bloch.

Prof E. Sreedharan is survived by his wife: Sathya Sreedharan, son: S Padmanabhan, daughter: S Vijaya Lakshmi, and Son in Law: P Jayakrishanan, ( T K Menon and Co, Chartered Accountants, Calicut.)