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Published Papers and Reports

Dr. Lotika Varadarajan has put together multifarious research through the course of here academic pursuits, and has led her to publish much of her research on indigeneous maritime communities of India.
Dr. Varadarajan's work has evolved with her research methods. Many of the earlier papers relate to Trade History in India, especially along the western coast and along the Indian ocean sea routes frequented by European and Arab traders.
Eventually, she started exploring navigational traditions and the local sources available for such a study, including genealogical records, regional astronomical charts and instruments. Many of her papers through the 1980s and 1990s explore aspects of nautical knowledge in India. 
Focus on ethnological aspects of historical research and development of a ethno-historical approach to her research areas subsequently resulted in her looking at traditions, practices and cultures of the Indian ocean islands through their specificities and technologies. She has taken up indigenous boat building technologies to look into aspects of local knowledge and traditions amongst maritime communities. 
 
Some of her papers and reports from over the years are accessible below. Please click on the button to read Dr. Varadarajan's papers as PDFs through her research portal on www.academia.edu. For more published papers by Dr. Varadarajan on different subjects, please visit https://independent.academia.edu/LotikaVaradarajan

Indigenization in Boat Architecture: The South Gujarat Batelo.

(Seminar paper)

Paper presented at International Seminar on Indo-Portugese History - XIV (ISIPH- XIV), 2013

India: Indian Voyages of Exploration

(Book Chapter)

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford (2007) Vol. II, pp. 196-200. 

Pre-Portuguese Maritime Crafts – The Ethnological Evidence.

(Seminar paper)

Maritime Activities of India with special reference to the Portuguese: 1500 – 1800 A.D
Department of History, Goa  University, Goa.  April, 2001

Indian Seafaring: The Precept and Reality of Kalivarjya

(Journal article)

The Great Circle, 5 No.1, April 1983

Barot Genealogical Records and the Khatri Community of Gujarat.

(Lecture paper)

Paper presented at the Indian History Congress, Waltair. Dec 1979.

Seventeenth Century Coins and Mensuration in Some Parts of Asia

(Journal article)

Itihas, Vol.V, Nos. I and II, 1977

Reasons leading to the establishment of the French East India Company: Edict of the year 1664

(Journal article)

Revue Historique de Pondichéry, Vol.12, 1975 

Traditional Gujarat Boat Carpentry - Intriguing Departures

(Symposium Paper)

The Batelo of South Gujarat : A presentation at the Symposium at Boat and Ship Archaeology.
Amsterdam (ISBA), 8-12 October 2012.

Positioning Gujarat as a Medieval Mercantile Centre – Contours and Context.

(Symposium Paper)

Port Towns of Gujarat. 

Daman.

14th-16th December 2012. 

Windows into Gujarat: An Ethno-Technological Reconstruction

(Book Chapter)

Gujarat and the Sea, Darshak Itihas Nidhi, Vadodara, pp. 155-178. Edited by Lotika Varadarajan.

2011

Knowledge and Culture : Liminality and Convergence, The Indo-Portuguese Experience

(Book chapter)

O Estado da Índia d Os Desafios Europeus, Actas do  XII Seminário Internacional de Histório Indo-Portuguesa. pp. 245-254
Centro de História de Além Mar, Centro de Estudos dos Povos e Culturas de Expressão Portiguesa,  Lisboa. Edited by João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, Vitor L.G. Rodrigues.

2010

Ap, the Canoe of Chowra Island

(Journal article)

Written by Hans Kumar and Lotika Varadarajan

Techniques et Culture, 35 – 36, 85 – 119.

January - December 2000

Patia of Eastern India – Vestiges of a Reverse Clinker Tradition

(Journal Article)

Written by Lotika Varadarajan and Swarup Bhattacharya.

Techniques et Culture, 35 – 36, 417 – 444.

January-December 2000

The Contours of Seafaring in the Indo-Pacific Region in Pre-Columbian Times

(Book Chapter)

India-Mexico: Similarities and Encounters throughout History, Mexico City.  Edited by E.A. Uchmany.

1998

Calendrical Systems of the Nicobars. Indian Artisans : Social Institutional and Cultural Values.

(Book Chapter)

Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata.  Edited by RK Bhattachrya, S.B Chakrabarti. 

The Question of the Anti-Meridian - Economic and Technical Aspects

(Seminar Paper)

Presented at VIIIth International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History. Ilha Terceira, Azores 

7-11th June 1996.

Astrology and Astronomy, The Indo-Portuguese Encounter

(Book Chapter)

(Presented in VIth International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History)
As Relações entre a India Portuguesa, a Asia do Sueste e o Extrêmo Oriente, Macau, Lisboa

Edited by A.T.de Matos, Luis F.F.R. Thomaz.

1993

Indian Boat Building Traditions, The Ethnological Evidence

(Book Chapter)

Athens, Aden, Arikamedu (Essays on the interrelations between India, Arabia and the eastern Mediterranean) Ed by Marie-Francoise Boussac, Jean-Francois Salles. New Delhi

1995. 

Of Eastern Sea Routes and Navigation Aids: Regional versus Lusitanian

(Journal Article)

RC, Revista de Cultura, Nos.13/14.

January/June 1991

Dimensions of Intra-Asian Trade contacts circa 9th to 15th centuries A.D.

(Book Chapter)

Asian Relations. Lancer International & India International Centre, New Delhi. Edited by Eric Gonsalves. 

1991.

Perspectives on Maritime Activity in Gujarat

(Book Chapter)

Minorities on India's West Coast: History and Society, Kalinga Publications, Delhi. pp. 1-16. Delhi. Edited by Aniruddha Gupta

1991

Indian Ship Building Techniques

(Seminar Paper)

Seminar on: Maritime Encounter of East and West during 15th - 19th Century A.D

Organised by The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, New Delhi. (As a part of the UNESCO Project, Integral Study of the Silk Road: Roads of Dialogue)

6-7 December, 1990.
 

Diu and its Trade

(Book Chapter) 
History of Traditional  Navigation, Thanjavur. Edited by G.Victor Rajamaickam, Y.Subbarayalu. 1988

(Presented at IVth International Seminar on Indo Portuguese History)

(Published in Studia, (Lisbon), 49. 1989)

Cochin and the Jews

(Seminar Paper)

Fifth International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History.  Cochin (29 January - 1 February 1989)

1989. 

Commodity Structure and Indian Participation in the Trade of the Southern Seas Circa 9th to 11th Centuries

(Book Chapter)

The Indian Ocean: Explorations in History, Commerce and Politics. SAGE Publications New Delhi. Edited by Satish Chandra. 

1987

Genealogical Records as Historical Source Material

(Journal article)

By Lotika Varadarajan and Suresh Seth

 Indian Archives, XXIX, No.1.

1980

Barot genealogical Records and the Khatri Community of Gujarat.

(Lecture Paper)

Paper presented at the Indian History Congress, Waltair. Dec 1979.

Indigenous Traditions of Navigation in Gujarat

(Journal article)

South Asia, Indian Ocean Issue, New Series, III.

1980

Chronology as related to sources for the study of Indian Maritime History, 1500-1800 A.D.

(Journal article)

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay. Dr. P.V. Kane Birth Centenary Volume, 52-53

1977-78

A note on the Currency and Mensuration of Surat and Ahmedabad during the late medieval period

(Journal Article)

Indica Vol.14, No.1,1977

The Brothers Boras and Virji Vora

(Journal artcile)

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. XIX, Part II.

May 1976

Reasons leading to the establishment of the French East India Company: Edict of the year 1664

(Journal article)

Revue Historique de Pondichéry, Vol.12

1975

Foreign Trade of Surat, 1650-1700

(Book chapter)

Studies in the Foreign relations of India , H.K.Sherwani Felicitation Volume, Hyderabad. Edited by P M Joshi. 

1975

Surat: Portrait of a City based on Seventeenth Century European Travel Accounts

(Journal article)

Journal of the Oriental Institute, Vol.XXVI, No.3

March, 1972

Early History of the "Compagnie des Indes"

(Journal article)

Journal of the University of Bombay, Vol. XXXIV.

July 1965 - January 1966

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ARCHIVES OF INDIAN MARITIME COMMUNITY TRADITIONS

Archive created by the Centre for Community Knowledge, Ambedkar University Delhi
with the support of
Vasant J Sheth Memorial Foundation, and
Project Mausam, Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts
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