Indra MANUEL (b. 1951) has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry (1971), a Master’s degree in Tamil (1973), a Bachelor’s degree (1974) and a Master’s degree in Education (1985), and a Ph.D in Tamil Literature (1985) from the University of Kerala, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
She worked under Prof. V.I.Subramoniam in the Cognate Project for teaching Languages in the Department of Linguistics (1975-1977), University of Kerala, India. She has been Principal Investigator in the Regional Centre of International School of Dravidian Languages, Pondicherry, India (1981), India and Associate Professor in the Department of Tamil, Bishop Heber College (1985 to 2010), Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu, India.
She has completed two projects in Tamil for the Central Institute of Classical Tamil, Chennai: (1) Tradition and Innovation in Kalittokai (A Sangam Text) (2010-2012) and (2) The Puṟam Literary Genre in the Classical Sangam Corpus (2013-2014).
She has worked from November 2014 to May 2019 in the EFEO at Pondicherry, with Dr. Eva Wilden, in the framework of the NETamil Project, preparing critical editions of the Meyppāṭṭiyal and Uvamaviyal of the Tolkāppiyam with Pērāciriyar’s commentary with English Translation.
Her areas of research include Tolkāppiyam, Sangam literature, Literary Theories and Short Stories. Theory of literature as gleaned from Tamil works on Poetics is her special area. Analysis of Sangam literature from a theoretical perspective is another area.
She has written four books and has published about 60 papers.
Selected Publications
1973 Pālai Pāṭiya Peruṅkatuṅkō, Jayakumari Stores, Nagercoil Tamilnadu, pp. 204+60.
1997 Literary Theories in Tamil (with special reference to Tolkappiyam), Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture, Pondicherry.
2009 Cevviyal āyvukkalaṅkal, Grace-Vedham Pathippakam, Tiruchirappalli 17, pp. 304+20.
2010 Tolkāppiyam-Poruḷatikāram (English Translation with Critical Notes), International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Thumba. (co author – Dr. L. Gloria Sundramathy)
Indra is currently engaged in the ERC DHARMA project preparing a critical edition and translation of the Tiricirāmalai Antāti, a literary work inscribed on the wall of the Pallava cave in the Rock-Fort in Trichy.
