M. R. Raghava Varier

M. R. Raghava Varier (b. on 15 January 1936) 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 (1973). He holds a post graduate degree in "Malayalam Language and Literature" from Calicut University (1976), M. Phil (1977–80) in History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and doctoral degree (1986) on the folk songs of northern Kerala from Department of Malayalam, University of Calicut. Later he was chosen into the Department of History, University of Calicut as Epigraphist (a non-teaching technical portfolio) and gradually elevated (reasons of which are still not officially clear) into position of a teaching faculty. He holds no post-graduate or doctoral degrees in the decipline of History. However Dr. Varier was offered a Reader post in the Department where he served till his retirement.From 1997 to 1999, he served as Senior Fellow in the Cultural Department, Government of India (New Delhi).

Varier has been invited to a number of institutions due to his expertise, including Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris under the Indo-French Programme (2004), Exeter University (funded by Art and Humanities Research Board, London), University of Tokyo (2010), De Montfort University, London and the British Museum (2012). 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. Heis 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 (1988), and a project on the Historical Atlas of South India (funded by the Ford Foundation) where he was a consultant. He is also associated with the Muziris Heritage Project as "Consultant" from 2009.

Cultural History of Kerala (1999), written by Varier with Rajan Gurukkal, is a standard textbook for the history of Kerala.