Renato Dávalos currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the DHARMA project, focusing on collecting, encoding and translating attestations related to bards and public recitations of holy hymns (tiruppatiyam). His research project is driven by the goal of unraveling the social history of these recitation groups and shedding light on the intricate development of devotional literary canons. As a supplementary endeavor, Renato will track and encode inscriptions that offer valuable insights into the lives and narratives of the earliest philosophers and theologians of the Caiva Cittānta tradition.
Renato earned his master’s degree in Asian and African Studies, specializing in Sanskrit studies, at El Colegio de México. After that, he pursued his Ph.D. in Indology and Tamil Studies at Cologne University, where he completed his doctoral studies thanks to a Research Grant from DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). His dissertation involved a preliminary study and English translation of the first two texts from the Caiva Cittānta philosophical canon, Tiruvuntiyār and Tirukkaḷiṟṟuppaṭiyār, in which he intended to locate the texts within earlier Tamil devotional tradition and the broader spectrum of pan-Indian Śaiva traditions.
In addition to his academic pursuits, Renato is actively contributing to the production of the first translation of a classical Tamil text, Tolkāppiyam, into Spanish. This project is sponsored by the CICT (Central Institute of Classical Tamil), and a Spanish translation of Kalidāsa’s Meghadūta for Sanskrit students.
