Faculty at School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Meera Viswanathan

Meera Viswanathan

Associate Professor

School of Humanities and Social Sciences


Contact Information

Epigraphy, Writing Systems, Social History

2014

Ph.D. (Ancient History) Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 2009

M.Phil. (Ancient History) Jawaharlal Nehru University 2006

M.A. (Ancient History) Jawaharlal Nehru University 2004

B.A. (History) St. Stephen?s College, Delhi University

(1) ?U?avad?ta's Akhayanivi: The Eternal Endowment in the Early Historic Deccan?, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 41, 2018, pp. 509?535. (2) 'From the Lekhaka to the K?yastha: Scribes in Early Historic Court and Society (200 BCE ? 200 CE)?, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 75 (Platinum Jubilee Volume), 2015, pp. 34?40.

(1) Mekhola Gomes, Digvijay Kumar Singh and Meera Visvanathan (eds.), The Social Worlds of Premodern Transactions, Delhi: Primus Books, 2020. (2) ?The First Land Grants: The Emergence of an Epigraphic Tradition in the Early Deccan?, in Mekhola Gomes, Digvijay Kumar Singh and Meera Visvanathan (eds.), The Social Worlds of Premodern Transactions: Perspectives from Indian Epigraphy and History, Delhi: Primus Books, 2020, pp. 1?24.

(1) Speaker at the ?Online Symposium on Indian Ocean and Epigraphy ? I and II?, organized by the Leiden Centre for Indian Ocean Studies and KITLV, December 10, 2021 and February 28, 2022. (2) ?Teaching History Across the ?Two Cultures?: Notes from a New Private University?, National Wokshop, ?History in the Classroom: Challenges, Innovations and Pedagogical Issues in Undergraduate History Education?, Organized by Bharati College and MHRD, 5?7 April, 2018. (3) ?The Vajras?c? in its Historical Trajectory?, in Conference on Social Science in the 21st Century: Indian Intellectual Traditions?, organized by G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, 24th?25th March 2018, Allahabad. (4) ?Who Can Read an Old Inscription? The Inscribed Pillar at Feroze Shah Kotla?, Invited lecture given to students at Ambedkar University, Delhi, October 12, 2017. (5) ?The Idea of the ?Perpetual Gift?: The ak?aya-n?vi in the inscriptions of the Early Historic Deccan?, at the XVIIIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Toronto, August 20th ?25th, 2017. (6) ?Acts of Deceit: Forgery and Fraud in Early Historic India?, The History Seminar, Ashoka University, 12 April 2017. (7) ?From the Lekhaka to the K?yastha: Scribes in Early Historic Court and Society?, 75th Session of the Indian History Congress, JNU, New Delhi, 28th?30th December, 2014.