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.
