Bioinformatics professor gets PhD in music

KOCHI: After hit by controversies, the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Department Director at Kerala University Dr Achuthsankar S. Nair has been able to get doctorate in music from Kerala University itself on legendary Swathi Thirunal. Dr Nair defended his thesis eight months ago, but the award was delayed due to the controversy and also a student agitation which originated in 2010.

"I was always sure that there was nothing wrong in my PhD and it had to come through, and it has. The days of academic caste system and academic untouchability have crumbled. I, an electrical engineer, who has no degrees in music has been awarded PhD in Fine Arts, because the university laws, in any positive interpretation, permit so. Moreover I had passed an entrance test before doing PhD. The university statute says persons with any masters degree can do PhD in Fine Arts," Dr Nair, a product of IIT Mumbai and University of Cambridge, who also has a PhD in engineering, said.

While the controversy raged, he applied for a third PhD in history and the university issued NOC. "In view of the severe crisis in seats brought about by new UGC regulations, I have decided not to pursue it immediately. My research was planned on the Pulaya Raja of Trivandrum," he said. "I have no need for a degree. However, I did it to bring more credibility to my lifelong work on Swathi Thirunal. The thesis was titled 'Swathi Thirunal - Historicity of the person and the authenticity of his compositions.' Much more than the PhD, I was recognised by two invited lectures at Madras Music Academy, one in Adayar Kalakshethra and one in Indira Gandhi National centre for Arts, Bangalore. The lecture in Madras was graciously immortalised by Ms Lakshmi Devnath of Chennai in her picturebook on Swathi Thirunal," he said.