Vardan Ratan Gupta is a Ph.D. student at the Department of South and Southeast Asian
Studies. He works on early medieval and medieval South Asia through the lens of spatial
history, ritual practices, and literary traditions. His current research considers the history of
Varanasi between the 9th and 14th centuries C.E. through Sanskrit and Persian sources in
conjunction with inscriptions. Broadly, he is interested in conceptualizing kingship, dharma,
and the socio-economic interactions between emerging polities in this period. He completed
his MA and MPhil in Ancient History from the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal
Nehru University. He reads and writes Hindi Poetry and short stories in his spare time.
