southern india

The Heirs of Vijayanagara: Court Politics in Early Modern South India by Lennart Bes is a comparative study investigating court politics in four kingdoms that succeeded the south Indian Vijayanagara empire during the 16th to 18th centuries: Ikkeri, Tanjavur, Madurai, and Ramnad. Building on a combination of unexplored Indian texts and Dutch archival records, this research offers a new analysis of political culture, power relations, and dynastic developments.

The monograph provides detailed facts and insights that contest existing scholarship. By highlighting their competitive, fluid, and dynamic nature, it undermines the historiography viewing these courts as harmonic, hierarchic, and static. Far from being remote, ritualised figures, we find kings and Brahmins contesting with other courtiers for power. At the same time, by stressing continuities with the past, this study questions recent scholarship that perceives a fundamentally new form of Nayaka kingship. Thus, this research has important repercussions for the way we perceive both these kingdoms and their ‘medieval’ precursors.

In this episode of BIC Talks author Anirudh Kanisetti speaks to Indologist and author Lennart Bes.

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Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan or PTR as he is more commonly known, has had a interesting journey thus far. He comes from a family with strong political roots in Tamilnadu – his Grandfather, PT Rajan, was Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency in 1936 and his father, PTR Palanivel Rajan, was Assembly speaker and Minister in TN. PTR initially chose to go overseas and be part of the Wall Street brigade. His experience in the financial sector stretches from Wall Street to Singapore. He transitioned from his life in finance, to a life in politics, following the footsteps of his grandfather and father. He was elected as MLA for Madurai Central Constituency and currently serves as the Minister for Finance & Human Resources Management in the Tamil Nadu Government.

In this episode of  BIC Talks, PTR talks about his personal journey and how a family legacy of politics combined with his eclectic overseas life as an Investment Professional has prepared him for his current role in State and National Politics. He talks about how the past has shaped his thinking, his learning and the value of public-private cross pollination as he addresses the emergent challenges and issues of the day.

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This week, we’re following up on last week’s episode to Rajasthan by featuring wonderful Kerala in Southern India.

Once again, we’re joined by the supremely knowledgable and charming, Lovleen Sagar, from our partners in India, who is going to be telling us all about how we can enjoy Kerala more if we take it easy and do some seriously slow travel. This trip is definitely the antidote to the past two years…

This talk is part of the 'Visual Constructions of South Asia' seminar series supported by the Cambridge-India partnership (http://www.cambridge-india.org) and by the Thriplow Charitable Trust. It acts as a sequel to the ‘Visual Anthropology and Contemporary South Asian History’ Conference (http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/25024) and comprises 12 two-hour seminars offered fortnightly, i.e. four seminars per term, during the 2014-15 academic year. The aims of this seminar series are twofold. First, to introduce Cambridge (under-, postgraduate) students, academic staff, researchers at different career stages and visiting scholars to the ways in which visual research methods support the development of new perspectives on South Asian history and culture. Second, to align the University of Cambridge prospectus to contemporary developments and programs in visual culture and South Asian studies – programmes already offered by all other major international universities. This seminar series is part of the ‘Visual Language and South Asian History’ Programme led by Dr Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes. The Programme also includes the annual course on ‘Visual Rhetoric and modern South Asian history’ (University of Cambridge, http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/50672), the annual course and workshop ‘Visual Rhetoric and South Asian gender studies’ (in collaboration with the Centre for Women’s Development Studies and Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi), and the annual course and workshop ‘Teaching and learning modern South Asian history with visual research methods’ (in collaboration with the Azim Premji Foundation and University, Bangalore). Each seminar takes place in S2 seminar room, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge, between 4:00 – 6:00p.m. The seminar dates in Michaelmas term are 13th and 27th October, and 10th and 24th November 2014. The seminar dates in Lent term are 19th January, 2nd and 16th February, and 2nd March 2015. The seminar dates in Easter term are 27th April, 11th and 25th May, and 8th June 2015.

This talk is part of the 'Visual Constructions of South Asia' seminar series supported by the Cambridge-India partnership (http://www.cambridge-india.org) and by the Thriplow Charitable Trust. It acts as a sequel to the ‘Visual Anthropology and Contemporary South Asian History’ Conference (http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/25024) and comprises 12 two-hour seminars offered fortnightly, i.e. four seminars per term, during the 2014-15 academic year. The aims of this seminar series are twofold. First, to introduce Cambridge (under-, postgraduate) students, academic staff, researchers at different career stages and visiting scholars to the ways in which visual research methods support the development of new perspectives on South Asian history and culture. Second, to align the University of Cambridge prospectus to contemporary developments and programs in visual culture and South Asian studies – programmes already offered by all other major international universities. This seminar series is part of the ‘Visual Language and South Asian History’ Programme led by Dr Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes. The Programme also includes the annual course on ‘Visual Rhetoric and modern South Asian history’ (University of Cambridge, http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/50672), the annual course and workshop ‘Visual Rhetoric and South Asian gender studies’ (in collaboration with the Centre for Women’s Development Studies and Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi), and the annual course and workshop ‘Teaching and learning modern South Asian history with visual research methods’ (in collaboration with the Azim Premji Foundation and University, Bangalore). Each seminar takes place in S2 seminar room, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge, between 4:00 – 6:00p.m. The seminar dates in Michaelmas term are 13th and 27th October, and 10th and 24th November 2014. The seminar dates in Lent term are 19th January, 2nd and 16th February, and 2nd March 2015. The seminar dates in Easter term are 27th April, 11th and 25th May, and 8th June 2015.