The Cambridge Companion to Periyar

by A.R. Venkatachalapathy (Editor), Karthick Ram Manoharan (editor)

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.

Genres: Politics, Academic

276 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2025

About the author

A.R. Venkatachalapathy, a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, has held the Indian Council for Cultural Relations’ Chair of Indian Studies at the National University of Singapore. He is published widely, both in English and Tamil, on the social, cultural and intellectual history of colonial Tamil Nadu.