Dr Saumya has done a PhD in history at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). His primary research interests are intellectual and cultural history and the politics of colonial India.

He has to date published five monographs and two collections of essays – Becoming Hindus and Muslims: Reading the Cultural Encounter in Bengal. 1342-1905, The Seedbed of Pakistan. Cultural Conflicts, Elite Muslim Anxieties, and the Congress, The Cultural Landscape of Hindutva and Other Essays. Historical Legitimacy of an Idea, Narrativising Bahratvarṣa and other Essays, Being Hindu. A Political History from Aditya Chola to Narendra Modi, BHU: From Inception to Crisis. 1915-65, and Indic Kingship in Theory and Practice: Reconsidering Marxist Historiography.

He has previously served stints as a faculty member and taught history at the O. P. Jindal Global University and Rishihood University.

Recipient of the Jadunath Sarkar Fellowship from the Foundation of Indian Historical and Cultural Research for the year 2024-25.

Saumya currently heads the Research division at FIHCR.