This professor popularises Malayalam in Germany

KOTTAYAM: Malayalis abroad may not be keen on learning Malayalam,  but the  eager students of Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and other countries are mastering it through the efforts of  a German professor at a university in her country. She is Heike Oberlin, professor of Indology at the University of Tubingen, who has been teaching  Malayalam language for the BA Indology students  and beginners  for the last ten years.

Prof Heike, who is also an exponent  and performer of Koodiyattam and coordinator of  Asian studies at the University, talked to Deccan Chronicle in good Malayalam at the Koodiyattam centre at  Moozhikulam, Ernakulam district. While teaching Malayalam language, she reads the extracts from the novels of  famous writers.  She also teaches basic Malayalam grammar. Prof Heike  is self-taught and never did a course in Malayalam at any university.

A doctorate-holder  in Indology,  she admires  the novels of  ‘Vaikom Muhammad Basheer and O.V. Vijayan. She loves to read the extracts from ‘Balyakalasaghi’ of Basheer and ‘Khasakintey Ithihasam’ of Vijayan to the students.   “The works of these writers are  profound with simplicity philosophy and aesthetic exuberance at the same time,” she says. “The students take part in a discussion on these novels either in their own language or in English,” she says.  

After the Herman Gundert Chair was established as a joint venture of Malayalam University and Tubingen University,  the university has been giving special emphasis on Malayalam. The collection of the manuscripts and books of Gundert has generated immense interest among the people to study the language, she says. Among the 40 students who chose Indology comprising  Indian languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi and philosophy for their BA course,  12  have opted for studying Malayalam in their second and third  year. There is  an increasing interest among the foreign students to learn Malayalam compared to other languages, she says.

Prof Heike’s fascination for Malayalam began in 1995 when she reached  Kerala Kala Mandalam at Cheruthuruthy to  learn  Koodiyattam.  “Koodiyattam brought me here. I learnt  the language and loved the culture of the place slowly. The love of the land helped me  study the language,”  she  said. She loves to do higher studies in Malayalam, but in Europe there is no university where MA or PhD in the language is offered. Her husband George Oberlin is a freelance academic  at the Tubingen University.