A. Sreedhara Menon | |
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 A. Sreedhara Menon | |
| Born | (1925-12-18)18 December 1925 |
| Died | 23 July 2010(2010-07-23) (aged 84) |
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| Occupations |
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| Notable work |
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| Awards | Padma Bhushan |
Alappat Sreedhara Menon (18 December 1925 – 23 July 2010), known asA. Sreedhara Menon, was an Indian historian fromKerala.[1] He is best known as the State Editor (1958–68) of Kerala District Gazetteers (1961–1975). He served as registrar of the Kerala University from 1968 to 1977, before retiring in 1980.[2]
Alappat Sreedhara Menon was born on 18 December 1925 inErnakulam, in theKingdom of Cochin (British India). His parents were Kovilakathu Parambil Padmanabha Menon and Alappat Narayani Amma.[3]
Menon passed theSecondary School Leaving Certificate in 1941 with First Class and proceeded to theUniversity of Madras where he passed the Intermediate Examination in 1942 with Distinction in Hindi, Indian History and Modern History. In 1944, supported by a scholarship from the king of Cochin, he completed his Bachelor of Arts from theMaharaja's College, Cochin, winning the Karimpat Rama Menon Gold Medal and the Rama Varma Shashtiabdapurthi Memorial Prize for English. He then continued hisMaster of Arts at Madras University completing it in 1948 with a First Rank in History. He completed his MA in Political Science, specialising in International Relations from Harvard University in 1953 with the backing of a Fulbright travel grant and a Smith Mundt Scholarship.[4]
From 1944 to 1949, he worked inSt. Thomas College, Trichur and subsequently joined theUniversity College, Trivandrum in 1949 in the Department of History and Politics.[5]
Menon receivedPadma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour, for Literature and Education in 2009.[1]
Menon died on 23 July 2010, aged 84, after some years of suffering ill-health. He was survived by his wife, Sarojini Menon, and two children.[6]
In 1953, Sreedhara Menon was granted the Smith Mundt Scholarship and theFulbright Travel Grant by the US Educational Foundation in India for higher studies atHarvard University where he obtained his master's degree inPolitical Science, specialising inInternational Relations.[5]
On his return to India, he was appointed by the Government of Kerala as the first State Editor of Kerala District Gazetteers in 1958. During the next ten years, Menon compiled eight volumes of District Gazetteers (out of nine districts of Kerala)[7] – Trivandrum (1961), Trichur (1961), Calicut (1962), Quilon (1964), Ernakulam (1965), Alleppey (1968), Cannanore (1972), and Kottayam (1975).
From 1968 to 1977, Menon was the Registrar of theKerala University. He was a visiting professor in the Department of History,University of Calicut under the UGC scheme from 1977 to 1978. From 1979 to 1981 he was a professor at the Institute of Public Administration (now the Institute of Management) under theGovernment of Kerala.[4] Menon was a member of the editorial board of journals including theJournal of Indian History andJournal of Kerala Studies, both published by the Department of History, University of Kerala. In 2000 Menon was elected the President of Visakhapatnam South Indian History Congress.
Menon was known for his opposition to theMarxist Communist Party of India.[8]
Menon refused to write a history of Indian anti-colonial movement in Kerala for theCongress Party because he "did not want to be known as a historian of the Congress".[9] TheCommunist Party of India (Marxist)-led coalition government in Kerala requested Menon in 1997 to write on Indian anti-colonial movement in Kerala "in consultation withE. M. S. Namboodiripad". The book was never published by the Government of Kerala and Menon withdrew from the task. He remarked on the issue, "It is not an objective historian's job to collect facts to suit theories. A true historian is a judge and not a lawyer... politicians can act only as lawyers."[10][3]
Sreedhara Menon published nearly 25 books in English andMalayalam.[6]
