Arathi Menon

Arathi Menon earned her doctorate in art history and archaeology from Columbia University. She specializes in the art histories of South Asia, with a focus on the material culture of the premodern Indian Ocean world. Menon's current book project examines the medieval art and architecture of the churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples of Malabar, in southwestern India. 

Menon’s graduate work and dissertation research was supported by the Steven Kossak Fellowship in Indian art, the Riggio Fellowship in Art History, and the American Institute of Indian Studies. She was previously Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Smarthistory — The Center for Public Art History and co-editor of the Bulletin 79 (Fall 2020) for the American Council of Southern Asian Art. Menon has taught at Columbia University and at Scripps College of the Claremont Colleges.

Recent Courses Taught

Collecting India
Epic Tales: Storytelling in South Asian Art
Fantastic beasts and the Indian Ocean World
The Art and Architecture of Buddhism
The Divine Body in South and Southeast Asian Art
The Sacred Art of South Asia
Painting in South Asia

Distinctions

Innovations in Digital Pedagogy Fellowship 2022-23
Class of 1966 Career Development Award (2022)
The Class of 1963 Faculty Fellowship (2022)

Essays available online

• A brief history of the art of South Asia: Prehistory – c. 500 C.E.
• An Indus Seal
• A Buddha from Mathura
• The Gupta Period
• The Cave of Shiva at Elephanta
• Durga Slays the Buffalo Demon at Mamallapuram 
• Rajarajesvara temple, Tanjavur
• The Qutb complex and early Sultanate architecture 
• A page from the Mewar Ramayana
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai

More

Professional Affiliations

• American Council of Southern Asian Art
• Association of Asian Studies
• College Art Association

Appointed to the Faculty

2020

Educational Background

Ph.D., Columbia University
M.Phil., Columbia University
M.A., Columbia University
B.A., University of California, San Diego