Agra Catholic college alumnus among world’s largest history prize winners

By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, Oct 22, 2024: A former student of Agra’s St Peter’s College has brought glory to the Catholic institution by winning the world’s largest history prize this year.

Tripurdaman Singh is among nine research scholars to win the Dan David Prize that celebrates the next generation of outstanding historians, archaeologists, curators and digital humanists.

The prize money of US$300,000 each is given to support their research.

Father Mathew Kumblummottil, who was Singh’s principal, said he joined St Peter’s College in the ninth grade and passed the twelfth grade with Commerce, before moving to the United Kingdom for further studies.

The college is managed by the archdiocese of Agra.

“As a student, he was a very soft-spoken person but very talented, particularly in debating and creative writing,” recalled the 66-year-old priest, who is now the parish priest of St Peter’s Church, Bharatpur, Rajasthan.

Father Kumblummottil said he has “only very happy memories of him. He makes it a point to contact me whenever he is in Agra.”

The priest told Matters India that Singh was born in 1988 in the royal family of Bhadawar near Agra.

Singh’s father is Maharaja Aridaman Singh. His mother Rani Pakshalika Singh represents the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly from Baad constituency as a Bharatiya Janata Party leader.

According to educationtimes.com, Singh is a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. He studied politics and international studies at the University of Warwick, UK and subsequently earned an MPhil in modern South Asian studies and a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge.

He is now a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and has been the recipient of a fellowship award from the Indian Council of Historical Research. His previous book, Imperial Sovereignty and Local Politics, was published by Cambridge University Press.

Besides this, Singh is active in public debates and scholarship in India, and his book on the Indian Constitution provides important historical context into current political dynamics.

In his research, Singh explores the nature of the region’s encounter with colonialism, the process of decolonisation and the birth of Indian democracy.

Ariel David, board member of the prize and son of Dan David, the founder of the prize, says the world needs to understand its past better to “decode the complexities of the present and face future challenges.”

He told the press that this year’s winner has used innovative methods and source materials, to offer the world “precious new historical insight, shedding light on everything from the birth of contemporary India to the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto and the deep connections of the Vikings to the East.”

Other winners included Keisha Blain from Brown University, a historian of the 20th century United States, and Cat Jarman, an archaeologist and historian. Jarman’s research focuses on the roles working-class Black women played in the U.S. civil rights movement.

Also awarded is Benjamin Brose from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Cécile Fromont from Harvard University and Daniel Jütte from New York University, as well as Stuart McManus from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The remaining recipients are Kathryn Olivarius from Stanford University and Katarzyna Person from the Warsaw Ghetto Museum.

The Dan David Prize endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University, is the largest history prize in the world.

“Archaeology and history offer ways into the backstories that frame our current lives,” said Professor Tim Cole, historian and Academic Advisor to the Dan

The winners were selected after nominations from colleagues, institutions and the general public were submitted in an open nomination process and were chosen by a global committee of experts that changes annually. This year’s selection committee members are affiliated with leading academic institutions in Europe, North America, India and Brazil. The 2024 winners received the prize at a gathering in Italy this summer.

The Dan David Prize was first established in 2001 by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Dan David, to reward innovative and interdisciplinary work that contributed to humanity. In 2021, the Prize was relaunched with a focus on historical research, honoring the founder’s passion for history and archaeology.