Prof. Dr. Heike Oberlin (née Moser) studied Indology and Social and Cultural Anthropology at Tübingen University. She completed her Ph.D. with "summa cum laude" in Indology at Würzburg with a work about the Sanskrit theatre Kūṭiyāṭṭam (Naṅṅyār-Kūttu - ein Teilaspekt des Sanskrittheaterkomplexes Kūṭiyāṭṭam, Harrassowitz 2008). From 1995 to 2001 she studied and performed Kūṭiyāṭṭam and Naṅṅyār-Kūttu with P.N. Girija and Painkulam Rama Chakyar at Kerala Kalamandalam in India. Since then she is involved in studying and teaching not only Kutiyattam but also the Malayalam language. In 2015 she established in cooperation with the Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University the “Gundert Chair” for Malayalam at Tübingen. In May 2013 Heike Oberlin completed her habilitation (postdoctoral qualification) and was conferred the “venia legendi” for Indology, in December 2016 she was appointed “außerplanmäßige Professorin”. Currently she is Associate Professor as well as Managing Director of the Dept. of Indology. 

Heike Oberlin was awarded the Ernst Waldschmidt Prize in 2008, was honoured as "Scholar in Residence" by the Higher Education Council of the State Government of Kerala in 2018 as part of the "Erudite Program" (flyer of the programme; article in "attempto online") and received the Gisela-Bonn-Preis of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations in 2019 for special achievements in the field of Indo-German relations.

Research interests

• Performing arts of India

• Sanskrit theatre, specially Kūṭiyāṭṭam (see Einführungstext mit Bildern und Videobeispiel and Bibliography)

• Manuscript studies, specially South Indian palm leaf manuscripts

• Malayalam: language, script, literature (see Malayāḷam)

• Kerala studies

• Gender studies

• Digital humanities

• Folk religions of India

• History of Indology

Further information

• Curriculum Vitae
• Publications
• Presentations & talks
• Lectures & courses
• Field trips
• Conferences & workshops
• Research projects
• Committee work
• Memberships
• Einführung mit Bildern und Videoausschnitt in das südindische Sanskrittheater Kūṭiyāṭṭam [Introduction to the South Indian Sanskrit theatre tradition Kutiyattam with images and a film clip, in German language]
• Malayāḷam / മലയാളം

Focus South India & Gundert Chair for Malayalam

• Focus South India - a cooperation between the Dept. of Indology and the Dept. of Social and Cultural Anthropology
• The Gundert Chair for Malayalam
• The DFG-funded project "Das Hermann-Gundert-Portal: Digitalisierung und Erschließung des Nachlasses von Hermann Gundert (manuscripts and prints) and supplementary works from his environment at the University Library of Tübingen" (2016-2018)