Abraham Eraly | |
---|---|
Native name | അബ്രഹാം എരളി |
Born | [1] Ayyampalli, Kerala, British Raj | 15 August 1934
Died | 8 April 2015 Pondicherry, Puducherry (union territory), India | (aged 80)
Nationality | Indian |
Alma mater | Madras Christian College[2] |
Genres | History, Fiction |
Subject | Indian history |
Notable works | The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors |
Spouse | Sita Eraly[2] |
Children | Satish Eraly[2] |
Website | |
Penguin India |
Abraham Eraly (15 August 1934 – 8 April 2015) was an Indian writer of history, a teacher, and the founder of Chennai-based magazine Aside.
Abraham Eraly was born in the village of Ayyampalli in Ernakulam district, Kerala on 15 August 1934.[1] He studied history at a college in Ernakulam and followed it up with a postgraduate degree in the same subject at Madras Christian College in Chennai.[1] He became a professor of history at MCC in 1971.[1]
Bored with the monotony of teaching,[3] Eraly resigned his professorship in 1977 and founded the Chennai-based magazine Aside, India's first English-language city magazine. Following financial difficulties, it closed in 1997.[4]
Eraly's earliest publications were poems and short stories.[5]
Abraham Early in an interview with journalist and author, talks to Shreekumar Varma says:
History is about life. You can't invent even the minutest fact, but there is scope for visualising what had happened.[5]
His historical writing career started while at Madras Christian College.[1] Dissatisfied with the material he used to teach history, he began to write a series of books on Indian history.[5] The Gem in the Lotus covered its earliest period, while The Last Spring continued the narration to the end of the Mughal Empire. Eraly's style of historical story-telling made him particularly approachable for non-historians but could also be used as a reliable source on the Mughal period in India.[6]
In 2011, Eraly moved to Pondicherry, where he lived in Sarathambal Nagar.[1]
Abraham Eraly died at the JIPMER hospital on 8 April 2015, following a paralytic attack.[1]