K. N. Panikkar

Not to be confused with Kavalam Narayana Panicker.

K. N. Panikkar (born 1936) is an Indian historian, associated with the "Marxist school" of historiography.

His methods and his expressed positions in public life have evoked harsh criticism from exponents of Hindu nationalism, particularly during the period of Bharatiya Janata Party government of 1998 to 2004.

Panikkar has been active in criticising the rise of "Nationalist" history in India. His books include Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant Uprisings in Malabar; Culture and Consciousness in Modern India; Culture, Ideology and Hegemony – Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India, and Before the Night Falls.

K.N. Pannikar edited a number of books, including A Concerned Indian’s Guide to Communalism and the ICHR volume on Towards Freedom, 1940: A Documentary History of the Freedom Struggle (suppressed and withdrawn from press by the former Bharatiya Janata Party-led regime, now forthcoming). He is currently engaged in preparing a monograph on the intellectual history of colonial India for which he has been awarded a Bhabha Senior Fellowship. He has attributed the Malabar Rebellion also known as the "Moplah Rebellion", or Moplah Riots as a Peasant uprising. Though it was a British-Muslim and Hindu-Muslim conflict in Kerala that occurred in 1921. During the early months of 1921, multiple events including the Khilafat movement and the Karachi resolution fueled the fires of rebellion amongst the Mappila Muslim community (Moplah is a British spelling). Thousands of Hindu men were murdered, women raped, and forcibly converted as a part of the riots.

According to one view, the reasons for the Moplah rebellion was religious revivalism among the Muslim Mappilas, and hostility towards the landlord Hindu Nair, Nambudiri Jenmi community and the British administration that supported the latter. The Moplah Riots of 1921 were the most notable, although they had been preceded by several other minor riots since the 19th century.

K.N.Panikkar (born 1936) is a leading Indian historian and staunch campaigner for minority rights. He is mostly known for his work on intellectual and cultural history of colonial India. His contribution to the writing on modern Indian history has considerably enriched the secular tradition of Indian historiography. He has consistently taken progressive positions concerning issues of national importance like secularism, democracy and human rights though this may mean negationism of Muslim atrocities on native Hindus.

Prof.panikkar's contribution to the writing on modern Indian history has considerably enriched the secular tradition of Indian historiography. He has consistently taken progressive positions concerning issues of national importance like secularism, democracy and human rights.During the last two decades, he has been engaged in a relentless campaign in defense of these values which are foundational to the principles of Indian society. He is an exemplary scholar with social concern and commitment. Panikkar was Professor of Modern Indian History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Prior to joining JNU, he was teaching at University of Delhi. In 2001, he was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kerala. Presently he is working as the Chairman of the Kerala Council for Historical Research and Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council. He is currently the General President of the Indian History Congress(1).

Early Life Panikkar was born at Guruvayoor in Thrissur, Kerala.He graduated from Government Victoria College, Palakkad in the mid 1950s. The College was then affiliated to Madras University. It was there that he was attracted to the analysis of exploitation and a vision of a humane society put forward by Marxism. During his undergraduate student days, he worked as the Vice-President, Malabar District Committee of the Student Federation—student wing of the undivided Communist Party of India. He was also elected as the Chairman of Victoria College Students’ Union during the same period. The ideas and patronage which he received from his relative and a prominent Communist Party leader Shri.K.P.Madhava Menon played a key role in shaping young Panikkar's ideas.After graduation, he proceeded to University of Rajasthan for higher studies, from where he obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. Degrees(6).

Academic life Panikkar made his mark in many ways. After a brief stint at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), associating with the project to prepare a source book on Modern Indian History, he taught at Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Universities.He has been the Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Chair, Centre for Historical Studies and the Archives on Contemporary History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was a Visting Professor at El Colegio De Mexico, Maison de sciences l'homme, Paris, Scholar in Residence at Rockfeller Study and Research Centre, Bellagio, Visting Fellow at the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies, Berlin, Visting Fellow of British Council at London , Senior Fellow of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi,and Senior Homi Bhabha Fellow. In his long and distinguished career, he has been a member of several professional bodies like University Grants Commission (UGC), Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR), Indian Council for World Affairs, National Book Trust of India (NBT), President of Modern History section of the Indian History Congress in 1975, etc. He holds prestigious visiting professorships in many universities around the world.Being an internationally acclaimed scholar, Panikkar has visited and lectured in many countries. In the last International Congress of Historians at Sydney, Australia, he was invited to speak in its inaugural session.

As a historian, he is widely known for his pioneering work on cultural and intellectual history.As a teacher he always upheld positive student-teacher pedagogical relationship as an important element for improving classroom atmosphere. He considers it as the most important skill a teacher should possess.As the Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council, he initiated major structural reforms in the State’s higher education system(2).

As a Secular Activist

Panikkar's interventions in public issues have earned him the reputation of an intellectual who is committed to the defense of human rights, secularism and democracy.Particularly important are the initiatives he had taken in the case of the dispute over Babri Masjid and the communal situation in Gujarat(3).Naturally, he has been a speck in the eyes of right-wing forces in India, particularly the Sangh Parivar. He attracted strong opposition from them because he always stood against their politics of mixing mythology and beliefs with historical facts. He has written many books and articles on the dangers of communalism through which he exposed the fascistic and communal machinations of the Sangh Parivar. His writings have been a major intellectual source in the campaign against communalism(9). Other Contributions Currently he is engaged in preparing a monograph on the intellectual history of colonial India for which he has been awarded Homi Bhabha Senior Fellowship. Recently the Kerala Government appointed him as the Chairman of an Expert Committee that looked into the complaints raised from various quarters about the new textbooks introduced in the State-supported schools.The committee submitted its report on 17th October 2008(7) and now it is available online(http://www.education.kerala.gov.in/FINAL%20REPORTnew.pdf)(5). ==References==

http://gurusmarana.ihrd.ac.in/profile.php?teacher=689