Noboru Karashima, the distinguished scholar and historian of South Asia, died in Tokyo on November 26. His body of research has rewritten the economic and social history of medieval South India. He was 82. At the time of his death, Professor Karashima was Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo and Taisho University. He was the recipient of the Padma Shri in 2013 for his contributions in building India-Japan ties. As he could not travel to New Delhi to receive the award, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a gesture of recognition and respect, personally presented the award to him in Japan.

Karashima’s Career and earlier life:-

• From his first study — a small but ground-breaking essay that he published almost 55 years ago on land control in the two Cauvery delta villages of Allur and Isanamangalam, based on the study of Chola inscriptions — Professor Karashima had to delve deeper into understanding land relations and social relationships in medieval Tamil Nadu.
• His seminal contribution to South Indian history was his use of statistical techniques to distil information from a mass of inscriptions, thereby lending his interpretations and conclusions a more sound and reliable base.
• His last major book is A Concise History of South India, published last year.
• Professor Karashima was instrumental in setting up the International Association of Tamil Research, and had been its president from 1989 to 2010.
• He was the principal organiser of the 8th World Tamil Conference in Thanjavur in 1995.
• He had been the president of the Japan Association for South Asian Studies from 1996 to 2000, helping to build it into a vibrant and scholarly organisation it currently is.
• Professor Karashima has exercised a strong intellectual influence on a generation of Tamil scholars, both in Japan and India.