Arpan Guha

Arpan Guha is a scholar of Sanskrit Studies specializing in Manuscriptology and Palaeography, with specific expertise in the handling, decipherment, transcription, and collation of manuscripts, alongside related studies in Ancient Indian History. After completing his doctoral thesis on the socio-lingual aspects of the third gender and diverse sexualities at Jadavpur University, Kolkata in May 2021, Arpan joined the NSHM Knowledge Campus (Kolkata and Durgapur campuses) as a Visiting Faculty member in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, Discipline of Yoga, from January 2021 to July 2021. He later served in the same department as an Assistant Professor from August 2021 to May 2022. Subsequently, he joined pilot phase I of the SAMHiTA - South Asian Manuscripts Histories and Textual Archive Project at the International Research Division of the India International Centre, Delhi, as a Research Associate, and continued into pilot phase II as a Senior Research Associate from February 1, 2025, to May 1, 2026.

In 2020, he co-authored his first book, Prākr̥ta Vaibhava, published by the prestigious West Bengal State Book Board. Beyond Gender Studies, his research interests extend to the performing arts, specifically traditional dance and music. Additionally, he trained in the Manipuri dance form at the Manipuri Nartanalaya in Kolkata.

He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with the research group "Astral Sciences in Trans-Regional Asia” (ASTRA), where he is working on the project Making Love under the Stars: Astral Influence on Gender and Sexuality in Medieval India. This project revolves around the translation and textual analysis of little-explored primary sources in Sanskrit astral science literature, focusing specifically on sections concerning marriage, coital relations, conception, offspring characteristics, and the astrological timing of birth.