♦ Eminent historian and public intellectual K.N. Panikkar died in Thiruvananthapuram on 9 March 2026. He was 89. Panikkar was widely regarded as one of India's leading Marxist historians and an influential voice in debates on secularism, communalism and the writing of modern Indian history.

♦ Born on April 26, 1936 in Guruvayur, Panikkar built a long academic career examining colonial society, social movements and the relationship between culture, religion and politics. 

♦ Among his well known works are Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant Uprisings in Malabar, Culture and Consciousness in Modern India and A Concerned Indian's Guide to Communalism. His writings were widely noted for their strong defence of secular and evidence based approaches to history.