Ph.D. - School of Oriental and African Studies, 1976 (student of John Marr)

Specialization:  Languages and literatures of southern India, Sanskrit literature and poetics, south Indian cultural and intellectual history, history of Tamil Islam, Kudiyattam and other Kerala art forms, Carnatic music. 

Recent publications:

Tamil: A Biography. Harvard University Press, 2016.

More than Real: A History of the Imagination in Southern India. Harvard University Press, 2012.

With Velcheru Narayana Rao: The Story of Manu by Allasani Peddana. Harvard University Press, Murty Classical Library of India, 2015.

Bullocks from the West. Five Punjai Stories and a Play by Na. Muthuswamy. Translated by S. Ramakrishnan and David Shulman. Westland, 2018.

Scholarly collaborations:  Velcheru Narayana Rao, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Yigal Bronner, Don Handelman.

Current Projects:  A volume on Kudiyattam. A study of the story Madinat al-Nuhas and its cultural milieux. A volume on dust. A set of essays on Carnatic compositions. Essays on South India in the 16th to 18th centuries. Kampan's Ayottiya kandam (for the MCLI). A study of Pandharpur and Vithoba.

 

Interests:

South Indian cultural history (Malayalam, Manipravalam (Malayalam), Manipravalam (Tamil), Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu)