Abraham Eraly | |
|---|---|
 Abraham Eraly | |
| Native name | അബ്രഹാം എരളി |
| Born | (1934-08-15)15 August 1934[1] Ayyampalli,Kerala,British Raj |
| Died | 8 April 2015(2015-04-08) (aged 80) Pondicherry,Puducherry (union territory), India |
| 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 ofChennai-based magazineAside.
Abraham Eraly was born in the village ofAyyampalli inErnakulam district,Kerala on 15 August 1934.[1] He studied history at a college inErnakulam and followed it up with a postgraduate degree in the same subject atMadras 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 theChennai-based magazineAside, 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 Eraly 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] TheGem in the Lotus covered its earliest period, whileThe Last Spring continued the narration to the end of theMughal 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 toPondicherry, where he lived in Sarathambal Nagar.[1]
Abraham Eraly died at theJIPMER hospital on 8 April 2015, following a paralytic attack.[1]
Many of his books were divided and re-published under different names leading to multiple titles.The Last Spring: The Lives and Times of Great Mughals was re-published in two parts:The Last Spring Part I (alternatively known asThe Mughal Throne andEmperors Of The Peacock Throne) andThe Last Spring Part II (alternatively known asThe Mughal World).
