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Purnima Dhavan is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Washington. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, obtained in January 2003. Her research interests include social and cultural history in early modern South Asia (1500-1800), focusing on how religious, linguistic, and status identities shaped political and cultural institutions during the Mughal period. Her teaching encompasses South Asian history, courses on the Mughal Empire, and Environmental History. She applies interdisciplinary approaches to her work, engaging with both literary and visual sources. Dhavan's significant publication, 'Sparrows Became Hawks: Making Khalsa Martial Tradition,' examines the transformation of North Indian peasants into the Sikh warrior order, Khalsa, using underutilized Persian and Punjabi sources. Her current research projects include “Lords Pen: Literary Associations in Early Modern South Asia,” studying how emerging urban centers during the Mughal Empire influenced participation in literary associations. She is also involved in the South Asia Center at the Jackson School of International Studies. Her teaching and advising aim to develop a nuanced understanding of South Asian historical narratives.
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