Thillai Chidambaram Rajarethinam

T. Rajarethinam is a specialist in Tamil literature and philology, with a particular interest in grammatical traditions, the transmission of texts through manuscripts, and the study of classical literary corpora from Tamil Nadu.

From 2014 to 2019, he participated in the ERC NETamil project (Going from Hand to Hand: Networks of Intellectual Exchange in the Tamil Learned Traditions), which focused on the study of networks of knowledge circulation and transmission within Tamil scholarly traditions. His work has focused in particular on grammatical texts and the exegetical tradition associated with the Tolkāppiyam, as well as on the study of manuscripts and scholarly practices related to the transmission of texts.

From 2019 to September 2022, he was a member of the ERC project “Translocal Identities. The Śivadharma and the Making of Regional Religious Traditions in Premodern South Asia” (SHIVADHARMA), led by Florinda De Simini (Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”) and funded by the European Research Council (ERC, grant agreement no. 803624). In this context, he studied the dissemination of texts from the Śivadharma corpus in the Tamil-speaking region and participated in a collaborative effort to produce a first English translation of selected chapters from the Tamil version of the Śivadharmottara.

Since October 2022, he has been participating in the “Hindu Temple Legends in South India” project, a long-term (16-year) research project funded by the Academies Program of the German Research Foundation (DFG). His work focuses on the critical edition of Kaccālaiyar’s Kāñcippurāṇam, including the transcription of the text, the collation of manuscript readings, the preparation of an English translation, and the regular discussion of findings during reading sessions bringing together the teams from Pondicherry and Heidelberg.

• 1997, B.A. in Tamil Language and Literature, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University
  1999, M.A. in Tamil Language and Literature, University of Kerala
• 2001, M.Phil. in Tamil Language and Literature, University of Kerala
• 2002, Certificate in Manuscript Studies, Saraswathy Mahal Library, Thanjavur
• 2004, Certificate in Linguistics, International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Thiruvananthapuram
• 2005, Certificate in Bengali Language, International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Thiruvananthapuram
• 2007, Ph.D. in Tamil Studies, University of Kerala

• Researcher, EFEO Center in Pondicherry, NETamil project, 2014–2019
• Researcher, ERC SHIVADHARMA project, 2019–September 2022
• Researcher, “Hindu Temple Legends in South India” project, since October 2022

• Assistant Professor, Department of Tamil, P.G.P. Arts and Science College, Namakkal, from 2007 to 2012
• Assistant Professor, Department of Tamil, Government Constituent College, Kadayanallur, from 2012 to 2013
• Researcher, International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Thiruvananthapuram, from 2006 to 2007
• Researcher, Tamil Lexicon Revision Project, University of Madras, 2005–2006

• 2000 — Passed the UGC-NET Lectureship (National Eligibility Test) for university teaching in India

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