Noburu Karashima is Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo, and one of the world’s leading experts on the history of Tamil Nadu and Tamil culture. He was educated at Tokyo University and later taught and researched at the University of Tokyo, Tokyo University of Foreign Students and Taisha University. In 1995, he was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prize, while in 2003, the Japan Academy Prize was conferred upon him. His major publications include: History and Society in South India: The Cholas to Vijayanagar (Oxford University Press, ed., 2001); Ancient and Medieval Commercial Activities in the Indian Ocean: Testimony of Inscriptions and Ceramic-sherds (Taisha University, ed., 2002); and Ancient to Medieval: South Indian Society in Transition (Oxford University Press, 2009).