M.V. Muralikrishnan

M.V. Muralikrishnan is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher on the DiPiKA project (‘Digital Preservation of Kerala Archives’), led by Hugo David and funded by Arcadia. Within the project, he is primarily involved in identifying private collections of ôles manuscripts in the Thrissur region (monasteries, ancestral homes, temples, etc.), cataloguing them, and carrying out the detailed cataloguing and physical conservation of the digitised collections. Murali is also responsible for organising the Thrissur team, for the conservation of the field office’s permanent manuscript collection, and for organising research missions and events.

At the same time, Murali is continuing his studies in the field of the Kerala Tantric tradition (the term ‘Tantra’ in Kerala essentially refers to a ritual temple tradition), notably through the publication of previously unpublished texts in this field. His work currently focuses on Nārāyaṇa’s Bhadradīpadīpikā, a previously unpublished text dealing with numerous temple ritual practices that are significant for understanding the vast Padmanabhaswamin complex in Trivandrum. The first edition prepared by Murali is based on previously unknown manuscript material collected at the Kidangassery Mana in Irinjalakkuda, a collection catalogued and digitised for the first time as part of the DiPiKA project. The study focuses on the specific ritual of the ‘auspicious lamp’ (bhadradīpa), mentioned in historical sources, and complements the classic studies by, amongst others, Christophe Vielle, S.A.S. Sarma, N.P. Unni, Venkita Subrahmanya Iyer and Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Bhayi Thampuratti.

2022: PhD from Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University, Kalady.