Sarath Pillai

Sarath Pillai is the A. Kenneth Pye Visiting Assistant Professor in South Asian History at Southern Methodist University (SMU) and a CASI Non-Resident Scholar. His research focuses on federalism, Indian princely states, and constitutional history, with a monograph examining federalist ideas in late colonial India. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (with distinction), an MSL from Yale Law School, and an MA from the University of Delhi.

• Education: Ph.D. (Distinction) – University of Chicago; MSL – Yale Law School; MA – University of Delhi

His work explores sidelined narratives in India’s nation-state formation, using multilingual archives. Key publications include analyses of German constitutional influences on Indian federalism and Tamil Nadu’s semantic resistance to centralization. Awards include the 2022 Sardar Patel Award for his dissertation.

He coordinated CASI’s seminar series, led public history projects at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and served on the University of Pennsylvania’s highest governing body as its first postdoctoral representative. His research has been supported by over a dozen grants, including from the American Historical Association and Yale Law School.