M. R. Raghava Varier


M. R. Raghava Varier, also M. R. Raghava Warrier, is an Indian epigraphist and historian, formerly a Professor at the University of Calicut, from Kerala. He currently lives in Cheliya, Edakkulam-Koyilandi in Kerala. Varier is generally considered as left-of-centre historian by political analysts.
Varier graduated from University of Calicut in 1972, and was trained in epigraphy at the Office of the Chief Epigraphist to the Government of India, Mysore. He holds a post graduate degree in "Malayalam Language and Literature" from Calicut University, M. Phil in History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and doctoral degree on the folk songs of northern Kerala from the University of Calicut. From 1997 to 1999, he served as Senior Fellow in the Cultural Department, Government of India.
Varier has been invited to a number of institutions, including Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris under the Indo-French Programme, Exeter University, University of Tokyo, De Montfort University, London and the British Museum. He served as the President - Epigraphy, Historical Archaeology and Numismatics in the 1998 Indian History Congress.
Varier is one of the few Indian scholars to examine medieval Malayalam manuscripts collected in Bibliotec Nazionale de Roma, Rome and Apostoloca Vaticana, Vatican. He is also a member of several federal bodies, committees, trusts, and university senates. He has been involved in a number of projects, including a Japanese project to explore the Chinese pottery in Kerala, and a project on the Historical Atlas of South India where he was a consultant. He is also associated with the Muziris Heritage Project as "Consultant" from 2009.
Cultural History of Kerala, written by Varier with Rajan Gurukkal, is a standard textbook for the history of Kerala.