विद्या वितर्को विज्ञानं स्मृतिः तत्परता क्रिया । यस्यैते षड्गुणास्तस्य नासाध्यमतिवर्तते ॥
One who possesses these six qualities – knowledge, reasoning, science, memory, readiness, and functionality – will find nothing unattainable
Department of Computer Science, IIT Kanpur July 2022 - (Present)
As a Linguist, I actively contributed to the development of the Samanvaya Unified Tagset for Indian languages, which aims to create a standardized framework for linguistic annotation across multiple languages. My role involved participating in the annotation processes for Hindi, Marathi, and Sanskrit, ensuring that the tagset effectively captures the unique linguistic features of these languages. Additionally, I authored the book "Samanvaya: Interlingua for the Unity of Indian Languages," which serves as a comprehensive guide to this unified approach, promoting cohesion and interoperability among India's diverse linguistic landscape.
In NLTM project, I have contributed mainly in creating, documenting SAMANVAYA tagset, which includes sentence level and word level tags
अर्थानुसार-वाक्यप्रकार (Sentence Meaning); रचनानुसार-वाक्यप्रकार (Sentence Structure); क्रिया-वाच्य (Voice); आश्रय (Dependency); शब्द-प्रकार 1 (Parts-of-Speech (POS) 1); शब्द-रूप (Morphology); शब्द-प्रकार 2 - कृदन्त (Parts-of-Speech (POS) 2 - Krdanta); क्रिया-कालादि (Tense-Aspect-Mood (TAM)); धातुप्रकार (Verbal Root)
I was involved in creating initial small size annotated dataset using SAMANVAYA tags for Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit languages.
As a Sanskrit Scholar I am associated with the Centre for Indian Knowledge System IIT Kanpur, I am involved in multiple key projects, most notably the Ramayana Knowledge Graph, Ramayana Quiz, Ramayana Proper Names Index which aims to create structured knowledge representation of the Ramayana. In addition to this, I helped the developers at IITK to develop various NLP tools for annotation explaining the needs of linguists and features and data points that are important for the NLP tasks. From the user perspective I was involved in suggesting modifications and improvements to the annotation tools Antarlekhaka Annotation tool and Shaabdabadhaalekhakah Dependency Visualization tool prepared by Dr. Hrishikesh Terdalkar. Furthermore, I served as a member of the Editorial Board of the IKS newsletter at IITK and took a leadership role in training new staff for IKS-related activities. I also helped establish the IKS library in its initial stage.
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur Feb 2017 - Jan 2018
As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) at IIT Kanpur, I focused on Indian theories of aesthetics, with a particular emphasis on the concept of vidagdha (विदग्ध) as discussed in Kuntaka's seminal work, Vakrokti-Jīvita (वक्रोक्ति-जीवित). My research delved into Kuntaka's notion of vakrokti (वक्रोक्ति, oblique expression) and its role in shaping Indian aesthetic theory, exploring its multifaceted application at phonetic, lexical, grammatical, sentential, contextual, and compositional levels. This work provided insights into the intricate interplay between creativity and aesthetic appreciation in classical Indian literature.
Mechanical Engineering Department, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur. March 2014 - September 2015
As a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur, my role involved interpreting musicological texts in saṃskṛta (संस्कृत) and documenting the design and construction processes of Indian musical instruments, such as the Ekatantrī vīṇā (एकतन्त्री वीणा). I served as a textual expert, aiding in the preparation of engineering drawings detailing the parts and assembly of these instruments. This work bridged the gap between ancient Sanskrit knowledge and modern engineering practices, contributing to a deeper understanding and preservation of India's musical heritage. I also helped in preparing Mechanical drawings of the all the parts of the Ekatantrī vīṇā and their assembly.
During this period, I was actively involved in various activities of the SandHI (Science and Heritage Initiative) project at IIT Kanpur. SandHI aims to integrate ancient Indian knowledge systems with contemporary science and technology. My contributions included working on Games in Sanskrit literature and town planning in Sanskrit texts. I also contributed to the SandHI initiative by offering Sanskrit courses at IIT Kanpur and establishing a SandHI library. Additionally, I was engaged in writing research papers related to SandHI's objectives. SandHI focuses on the preservation, interpretation, and dissemination of Indian knowledge systems. As a Sanskrit scholar in the SandHI project, my role involved making ancient texts accessible.
Center for Indian Language Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Jan 2009 - September
As a Research Associate in the Sanskrit Wordnet project at IIT Bombay, I focused on the conceptualization and streamlining of the synset creation process, particularly emphasizing verb and adverb synsets. My role involved participating as a language expert in the creation of these synsets, which are crucial for enhancing the lexical database of Sanskrit. I contributed to research documentation, workshop report writing, and paper writing to support the project's objectives. I also helped in designing and creating Synset making a special tool for Sanskrit Wordnet to effectively capture all required information for Sanskrit verbs, nouns and avyayas. I also authored some of the initial papers on Sanskrit wordnet.
Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. July 2003 - December 2008
Govt. of India Project “Sanskrit E-learning”, Department of Sanskrit, Pune University, Pune. May 2002 - August 2002