Gita V. Pai, a Ph.D. candidate in the South and Southeast Asian Studies Department, is working on a dissertation project entitled Recasting the Syntax of Sovereignty in Medieval South India. This project focuses on the late medieval culture of Tamilnadu in south India, exploring how and why the 11 Nayaka rulers of the era constructed their images through visual culture and textual material. Examining portraits of rulers in temple architecture, textiles, and literary texts, Pai investigates the multiple ways gender relations and sexuality are used to define kingship in the Nayaka period.