Received Sylff fellowship in 2013-2014
Academic supervisor: Prof. Ranabir Chakravarti; Prof. Heeraman Tiwari
Current affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of History, Panjab University, Chandigarh (India)
Academic achievements, social engagement initiatives:
I have completed graduation from Hindu College of Delhi University (2006), and Post-Graduation (2008), MPhil (2010) and PhD (2016) from the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
I have joined as assistant professor in the Department of History, Panjab University, Chandigarh (India) in 2015 and currently employed in the same university.
I have published articles in several journals (e.g., Studies in People's History, Contemporary Voice of Dalits, Indian Historical Review, etc) and edited books; in addition to it, i have contributed three papers in The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa, edited by D. T. Potts, Ethan Harkness, Jason Neelis & Roderick McIntosh. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2022.
Education
1. B. A. (Honours) History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, New Delhi (2006).
2. M.A. (History), Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (2008).
3. M.Phil (History), Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (2010); Dissertation Title: Merchants, Trade and Religion in Agrarian Society: Gleanings from the Vasudevahindi (c. 400-600 AD).
4. PhD (History), Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (2016). Thesis Title: Kings, Merchants and Forest Societies in the Malava-Dahala Region (c. 400-800
AD).
Publications
1. ‘Contextualizing Language and Religious Communities, circa 200 BC To AD 300.’ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 70, 2009, pp. 59–72. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44147655?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
2. ‘Imagining Dasapura, a Tirtha-Nagara: A Hermeneutical Study of an Urban Space.’ Panjab University Research Journal (Social Sciences), Vol. 24, (Issue 1 & 2), 2016, pp. 193-222. https://purjss.puchd.ac.in/issues/2016/vol-24-1n2-2016.pdf
3. ‘State Formation and Political Integration: Subordinate Rulers under the Guptas in Central India.’ Studies in People’s History, Vol. 4, Issue. 2, 2017, pp. 130-145. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2348448917725850
4. ‘Aryans versus Non- Aryans: A Study of Dalit Narratives of India’s Ancient Past.’ Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2018, pp. 1-11. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2455328X18785288
5. ‘Subordinate Rulers under the Gupta Monarchs: Political Integration and State Formation in Central and Eastern India.’ In State, Power & Legitimacy: The Gupta Kingdom, edited by in Kunal Chakrabarti and Kanad Sinha. Primus Books, New Delhi, 2019, pp. 612-638.
6. ‘Early Panjab: From a Gateway to a Metaphor- A Historiography.’ Panjab University Research Journal (Social Sciences), Vol. 27 (Issue 1 & 2), 2019, pp. 1-28. https://purjss.puchd.ac.in/issues/2019/purjss-vol27-1-2-2019.pdf
7. ‘Sahib’s Nautch Girl: Colonial Archaeology and the Identity Formation of a Bronze Girl Statue from Mohenjodaro.’ Karatoya: North Bengal University Journal of History, Vol. 12, 2019, pp. 9-24. https://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/3950
8. ‘Two Rajyas and a Devi: State Formation and Religious Processes in Central India (circa Fifth-Sixth Century CE).’ Indian Historical Review, Vol. 47, No. 2, 2020, pp. 330-346. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0376983620968010
9. ‘Nationalising the Harappan Past: India, Pakistan and Mortimer Wheeler in the Early Post-colonial South Asia.’ Atna- Journal of Tourism Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2020, pp. 1-27. http://journals.christuniversity.in/index.php/atna/article/view/2857
10. ‘The Huns (‘Hunas’) in India: A Review.’ Studies in People’s History, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2021, pp. 182-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/23484489211041133
11. ‘Jain-Buddhist Sanyasis, Sikh Gurus and the Formation of a Critique of Religious Orthodoxy.’ Panjab Journal of Sikh Studies, Vol. 8, 2021, pp. 78-92. https://pjss.puchd.ac.in/issues/pjss-vol-viii-2021spl.pdf
12. ‘Why the Aryans Still Matter? History, Historiography and Politics.’ Contemporary Voice of Dalit, first published online, February 6, 2022, pp. 1-10. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2455328X211063048
13. ‘Rulers, Buddha’s Relics and Merit Sharing in North-western India: Gleanings from the Inscriptions of the Sakas, the Kusanas and the Hunas.’ In Studies in the History and Culture of Ancient Indian Buddhism edited by Birendra Nath Prasad. New Delhi: Research India Press, 2022, pp. 90-111.
14.‘Aulikaras.’ In The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa, edited by D. T. Potts, Ethan Harkness, Jason Neelis & Roderick McIntosh. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00580
15. ‘Alchon Huns.’ In The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa edited by D. T. Potts, Ethan Harkness, Jason Neelis & Roderick McIntosh. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00567
16. ‘Subordinate rulers of the Guptas.’ The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa edited by D. T. Potts, Ethan Harkness, Jason Neelis & Roderick McIntosh. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00566
17. ‘Beyond the Kind-Brahmana-Temple Paradigm: Mapping the socio-cultural landscape of Hindu temples in central India (c. 4th -6th centuries CE).’ In The Routledge Handbook of Hindu Temples: Materiality, Social History and Practice edited by Himanshu Prabha Ray, Salila Kulshreshtha and Uthara Suvrathan. Routledge India, 2022, pp. 40-56.
18. ‘Beyond Borders: Indo-Sasanian Trade and Its Central Indian Connections (Circa CE 300–700).’ Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43593-5
Academia: https://ubsludhiana.academia.edu/AshishKumar
University Faculty profile: https://pu.irins.org/profile/114152
