Dr Preeti Gulati is an historian of ancient India, and she has worked on religion, identity and power. Her research interests lie in understanding the making of textual traditions, and religious and social dynamics in everyday life. She has done both her PhD (2022) and MPhil (2017) from the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, under the supervision of Prof Kumkum Roy. Her doctoral thesis, titled Kings, Ascetics, and ‘Others’ – Food Codes and Practices in early India, c.200 BCE – 300 CE examined the making of social norms through the lens of everyday practice, by reading foodways as systems of communications that mark identities of ‘self’ vis-à-vis the other. Her research demonstrates how food-related practices – ranging from acquiring, producing, processing, distributing, and consuming food, to nature of items consumed or abstained from, their symbolism, and commensal practices – are key tangible and visible means to define one’s role and status within society, as well as in relation to each other. Her expertise lies in Sanskrit and Pali textual traditions, and unpacking the making of historical literary traditions in India. Her wider research interests lie in everyday practices, histories of ideas, and comparative textual studies.

Dr Preeti Gulati’s doctoral research closely examined the motif of food across different literary traditions in early India, to understand how everyday life and activities were at once conditioned by, and also used to shape, ideas and boundaries of religion, power and institutions. Dr Gulati’s expertise lies in normative and narrative textual traditions ranging from the Dharmasutras, Valmiki’s Ramayana, the Vinay Pitaka, Jatakas, and the Arthashastra. She is currently working on a manuscript for publication, based on her research thesis, tentatively titled Identities on a Plate: Religion, Identity and Power in Early India. 

HIST 336 Ramayana

This course deliberates on the historical, political, ethical and literary concerns that frame the epic tale of Ramayana. We explore the rich and diverse Ramayana tradition, delving into various retellings ranging from textual, to audio-visual to performance arts. Through the course, we see how the Ramayana narratives have traveled – the story, story-tellers and the audiences – and how, if at all, do we read these various literary and cultural texts as historical sources. 

HIST 337 The Rise of Civilisations in India 

This course on early India explores the political, social, economic and religious developments from 2000 BCE up to 800 CE. We will move chronologically through the trimester to understand the changes and continuities that defined ancient India. At the same time, each block will be explored thematically, ranging from differing ideas of sovereignty and governance, the emergence of heterodox sects and Puranic traditions, and their inter-linkages with modes of production and social organisation, changes in material culture, craft technologies, commerce and urbanisation. Together these themes will provide an overview not only of what happened in early India, but why do we study early India? We will use a combination of primary sources and scholarship, and survey the relevant historiographical debates.