Madhavan K. Palat

Madhavan K Palat (born 9 February 1947) is an Indian historian, scholar of modern world, and political commentator. He is an expert on European and Russian history. In the course of an academic career extending over nearly four decades, he has played a seminal role in promoting understanding of Russian history, culture, literature, and society in India.

Madhavan Kezhkepat Palat was born in a distinguished family from the southern state of Kerala in India. His father, the late Mangat Gopal Menon, belonged to the Indian Civil Service (ICS). After taking his B. A. (Honours) degree in history from the University of Delhi, (St. Stephen's College, Delhi), India, in 1966, Madhavan Palat read history at Christ's College, Cambridge (matriculation 1966), and was admitted to the B. A. degree in 1968. He then went on for graduate studies to St. Antony's College, Oxford, in 1969, where he pursued his research on modern Russian history and was awarded the D.Phil.degree in 1974.

In 1974, Madhavan K. Palat joined the faculty of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India, where, in 1989, he was appointed Professor of Russian and European History at the Centre for Historical Studies, a position he held until his voluntary retirement from the university in 2004. He was also Dean, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (2003–04).

His area of specialisation, Russian and European history, is rare in a country where few historians have ventured out of Indian History. From 1974 to 2004, he taught non-Indian history and carried out research in that area at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University .

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