Abraham Eraly


Abraham Eraly was an Indian writer of history, a teacher, and the founder of Chennai-based magazine Aside.

Early life

Abraham Eraly was born in the village of Ayyampalli in Ernakulam district, Kerala on 15 August 1934. He studied History at a college in Ernakulam and followed it up with a post-graduate degree in the same subject at Madras Christian College in Chennai. He became a Professor of History at MCC in 1971.
Bored with the monotony of teaching, 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.

Literary career

Eraly's earliest publications were poems and short stories. His historical writing career started while at Madras Christian College. Dissatisfied with the material he used to teach history, he began to write a series of books on Indian history. The Gem in the Lotus covered its earliest period, while The Last Spring continued the narration to the end of the Mughal Empire.
In 2014, he published a book on the Delhi Sultanate, The Age of Wrath.

Later life

In 2011, Eraly moved to Pondicherry, where he lived in Sarathambal Nagar.
Abraham Eraly died at the JIPMER hospital on 8 April 2015, following a paralytic attack.

Non-fiction

Many of his books were divided and re-published under different names leading to multiple titles. ' was re-published in two parts: ' and '.

Fiction