Anjana M. Nair, a doctoral candidate under the supervision of Prof. Suchandra Ghosh at the Department of History, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) successfully completed her 15-day long data collection project in Germany titled “Dissent, Crime, and Punishment in the Context of Early India (2nd Century BCE to 7th-8th Century CE)” in October 2025. Her visit to Germany was funded by the Data Collection Abroad scheme of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Ministry of Education in India. The scheme fully took care of airfare, maintenance and other expenses incurred during the trip.
Anjana M. Nair
This project aimed to examine manuscript cultures involving pāpa, daṇḍa, and the pursuit of mokṣa through a codicological study of early Indian legal and ritual texts in German repositories. As part of her data collection, Anjana visited several renowned institutions, including the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, the Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften (IAAW) at Humboldt University, the Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen, and the Department of Indology at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. She gratefully acknowledges the guidance of the numerous experts she consulted in Germany, including Prof. Annette Schmiedchen (Humboldt University), Prof. Heike Oberlin (University of Tübingen), Dr. Elisa Ganser (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), Rachel Dipper (Curator, Manuscripts Restoration Workshop, University of Tübingen), and Mareike Heinritz (University of Tübingen Library).
The funding provided by ICSSR enabled her to access rare manuscripts relevant to her study, and to gain hands-on familiarity with manuscript conservation techniques in German holdings. The insights gained through discussions with manuscript restoration experts, curators, and faculty members in the Indology departments of the universities she visited have significantly enriched her understanding and equipped her to address her research questions more effectively.