Book Discussion | ‘The Cambridge Companion to Periyar’

NLSIU organised a book discussion on the volume ‘The Cambridge Companion to Periyar’ on Sunday, September 14, 2025.

Edited by A.R. Venkatachalapathy (Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies) and Dr. Karthick Ram Manoharan (Assistant Professor, NLSIU), this volume addresses multiple aspects of Periyar’s life, politics and thoughts from different perspectives, engaging with new material. Dr. Manoharan was joined by the following panellists in a discussion on this key thinker of the Dravidian Movement:

• Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice-Chancellor, NLSIU
• Prof. S. V. Srinivas, Professor at the School of Liberal Studies, Azim Premji University
• Dr. Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav, Assistant Professor, NLSIU

About the Book  

The ‘Cambridge Companion to Periyar’ is a timely academic intervention which brings together scholars working on different aspects of modern Tamil politics, taking diverse perspectives, to comment on Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, the significant thinker whose thoughts inform political practices in contemporary Tamil Nadu. As the chapters seek to demonstrate, Periyar’s thoughts can have a pan-Indian and a global significance, informing conversations on caste, gender, religion, regionalism, nationalism, and social justice. Likewise, in the wake of wider conversations on bringing diversity to the academic disciplines, this volume on Periyar will draw attention to a non-canonical thinker whose important intellectual and political contributions transcend the limits of his context. The volume brings together established academics in the field as well as early career researchers to provide the first of its kind companion to Periyar. Tapping new sources, challenging myths, and crossing disciplinary boundaries, this volume presents a Periyar for the times.

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