The Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies was established in the year 1961. It runs Master Programmes in Bengali, Comparative Indian Literature and Tamil, and Certificate - Diploma - Advanced Diploma courses in 11 Indian Languages. The research programme in the field of Comparative Indian Literature, Folklore and Indian Languages and Literature, initiated by the Department, have drawn the attention of scholars from India and abroad. The Department has produced a good number of scholars in these fields during these years. The Master programme in Comparative Indian Literature has also come to limelight for its unique design and its relevance in the multi-lingual and multi-cultural situation of India, where a wide variety of literatures are produced in different languages.
Department has also undertaken various initiatives under the ongoing UGC DRS assistance. Under this scheme, the thrust areas are: Comparative Indian Literature, Translation Studies and Indian Folklore and Tribal lore. A series of National level seminars on these thrust areas have been organized during these years and few volumes are also to be published soon.
The Department celebrated its Golden Jubilee in the year 2010-11.
1. DRS (Phase-II) Programme of UGC April 2009 to March 2014
2. Major Research Project on Fakelore in Tamil Nadu: A Research on the Growth & Current Scenario
3. Major Research Project on Thematic Survey of Post Independence Gujarati, Marathi and Hindi Plays
4. Major Research Project on Sindhi Folk Culture and Folk Literature in India: A Study
Dr. Bhagat Dashrath Tukaram – Post Doctoral Student
Ms. Pritam Priya Goswami – Project Fellow under DRS (Phase-II) programme
National Seminar on Women Texts: Historiography held during 19th to 20th February 2013.
Endowment Lecture in the name of Padma Bhushan Dr. Rajah Sir M.A. Muthiah Chettiar of Chettinad (held every year in the Department)
