Anandha Krishna Raj S.

Dr. Anandha Krishna Raj S. is an Associate Professor of International Law at VIT School of Law, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India. He has extensive experience in legal education, international legal research, and interdisciplinary scholarship, with academic training spanning International Law and Sociology.. He holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in International Law and an M.A. in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, an M.L. in Law from Kurukshetra University, and a B.A.B.L. from Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, Chennai.

His academic work engages with International Legal Theory, the history and development of international law, international law of war and peace, international human rights law, sociology of law, jurisprudence, and comparative legal traditions. Over the course of his research, he has developed a particular interest in the relationship between law, society, history, and political authority, with publications addressing international organisations, international legal theory, refugee law, humanitarian law, cyber warfare, autonomous weapons, and questions of justice.

His current research increasingly turns towards ancient and medieval Tamil legal traditions and their place within global legal history. In particular, he examines Tamil conceptions of law, justice, diplomacy, warfare, political authority, and social order, and explores their relationship with broader histories of international law and non-European legal thought. His research draws upon literary, historical, inscriptional, and other sources to investigate legal ideas and practices beyond conventional Eurocentric accounts of legal history. His work on ancient Tamil law includes studies of Aram and Dharma, Tamil diplomacy and warfare, ancient Tamil jurisprudence, refugee protection, and medieval Tamil law and society. Dr. Raj has presented his research at national and international academic forums, including conferences of the Asian Society of International Law in the Philippines, Australia, and Vietnam. His paper on “Tamil Contribution to the Asian Approach to International Law” was selected among the best papers at the 2019 Asian Society of International Law Junior Scholars Conference. He has also delivered invited lectures and served as a resource person at universities and academic institutions across India.

Through his current research, Dr. Raj seeks to contribute to the growing scholarship on global legal history, comparative legal traditions, and non-European approaches to law, while bringing Tamil intellectual and legal traditions into wider conversations within international legal scholarship.