Areas of Research: Intellectual and Cultural History of Modern India, South Asian Literary Cultures, Literary Historiography, Tamil Language and

Literature

Research Focus: My earlier research dealt with the reproduction and reception of classical Tamil literature in colonial India. Focusing on what is understood in Tamil literary tradition as ‘Sangam’ anthologies, my work investigated the transmission of this body of literature in Tamil literary tradition in a long term historical perspective. By doing so, my work raised questions on the historiographical position of its dramatic ‘rediscovery’ in the second half of the nineteenth century in the backdrop of expanding print culture in colonial Madras. The research provided a background and structure to the history of print-publication of classical Tamil literature during the 19^th and early 20^th century. My current research work focuses on the history of progressive literary movement and the intellectual history of various strands of Marxist thought in Tamil language. I am more interested in examining the regional profile of Marxist thought in the intellectual history of modern India by focusing on Tamil language and the lives of Tamil Left activists and ideologues such as Singaravelar, Jeevanandam and others during the 20^th century.

Teaching : HSS102 History of Science (Core Course)

HSS613 The Social History of Science in Modern India, 1780-1950

HSS617 From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India

HSS618 India from Prehistory to Early History (Co-Instructor)

HSS620 Imagining India: An Intellectual History of Orientalism

HSS627 Idea of India: Intellectual Imaginary of Nation

Selected Publications:

Manuscripts, Memory and History: Classical Tamil Literature in Colonial India, Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, 2014. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/manuscripts-memory-and-history/BA58606E20FEB02BCFDF11D77FF40EEF)

(Reviews: EPW (https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/42/book-reviews/classical-tamil-literature.html?0=ip_login_no_cache%3D4e207f7503ea0cfe265068d80bec0273)

IESHR (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019464615573295)

Relegere (https://relegere.org/relegere/article/view/656)

Frontline (https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/seeds-of-tamil-renaissance/article5787804.ece)

The Russian Revolution and India: Compilation from Soviet Land Magazine and Other Sources, Routledge, 2020. (Co-Editor). (https://www.routledge.com/The-Russian-Revolution-and-India/Manian-Rajesh/p/book/9780367642082)

‘The Making of Classical Tamil Literature: Multiple Sources in its Construction’ in Aloka Parasher-Sen (ed), Seeking History through Her Sources: South of the Vindhyas, Orient Blackswan, New Delhi, 2021 (Forthcoming).

'Beyond the Politics of Identity: The Left and the Politics of Caste and Identity in Tamil Nadu, 1920-63', South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 38, 4, 2015, pp. 543-557 (With Ravi Vaitheespara). (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00856401.2015.1070011)

‘Spatial Perceptions in Early Tamil Poetry’, Summerhill: IIAS Review, Vol. XXIV, No. 1 (Summer 2018), pp. 6-12.

‘The Making of Sangam Literary Canon and Tamil Identity’, in R. Cheran, Darshan Ambalavanar and Chelva Kanakanayagam, (eds.), New Demarcations: Essays in Tamil Studies, Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc, Toronto, 2008, pp. 133-147.