birth_place nationality name birth_date article_title birth_name occupation
ponnani indian mgs narayanan 20 august 1932 m. g. s. narayanan
 muttayil govindamenon sankara narayanan historian
m. g. s. narayanan

muttayil govindamenon sankara narayanan -lrb- malayalam : മുറ റയില ഗ വിന ദമേന ന ശങ കരനാരായണന -rrb- , born on 20 august 1932 , more popularly known as mgs , is an indian historian , academic and a former chairman of the indian council of historical research -lrb- 2001 -- 03 -rrb- .
he was commonwealth academic staff fellow , school of oriental and african studies , university of london -lrb- 1974 -- 75 -rrb- ; visiting fellow , universities of moscow and leningrad -lrb- 1991 -rrb- ; visiting research professor , tokyo university of foreign studies , tokyo -lrb- 1994 -- 95 -rrb- .
narayanan is among the few southern indian historians known nationally and internationally .
he is a scholar of southern indian history , kerala history , in particular .
he is also a specialist in ancient indian history .
narayanan is the current director general of centre for heritage studies , cochin .
