K. N. Panikkar

K. N. Panikkar (26 April 1936 – 9 March 2026) was an Indian historian, associated with the Marxist school of historiography.

K. N. Panikkar wrote and edited a number of books, including A Concerned Indian’s Guide to Communalism and the ICHR volume on Towards Freedom, 1940: A Documentary History of the Freedom Struggle.

In 2010 he launched Indian Ruminations an online portal in English, publishing literature and journalistic writings.

His methods and his expressed positions in public life have evoked harsh criticism from exponents of Hindu nationalism, particularly during the period of Bharatiya Janata Party government of 1998 to 2004. Panikkar was active in criticising the rise of "Nationalist" history in India. His books include Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant Uprisings in Malabar; Culture and Consciousness in Modern India; Culture, Ideology and Hegemony – Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India, and Before the Night Falls. He was appointed by the government of Kerala as chairman of an Expert Committee that looked into the complaints raised from various quarters concerning new textbooks introduced to state-supported schools. The committee submitted its report in October 2008.

Panikkar died on 9 March 2026, at the age of 89.