The focus of Dr Chithra Madhavan’s research is temple architecture, iconography and epigraphy. She is the author of seven books: History and Culture of Tamil Nadu: As Gleaned from the Sanskrit Inscriptions (two volumes), Vishnu Temples of South India (four volumes) and Sanskrit Education and Literature in Ancient and Medieval Tamil Nadu. She wrote the text for a coffee-table book, Snapshots of A Bygone Era: A Century of Images. Chithra co-edited South India Heritage: An Introduction containing approximately 500 articles on various aspects of the heritage and culture of South India. She has also compiled Kalakshetra Reflections: Sculpture.

Dr Chithra Madhavan has an M.A. and M.Phil. from the Department of Indian History, University of Madras, and a Ph.D. from the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Mysore. She is the recipient of two post-doctoral fellowships from the Department of Culture, Government of India, and from the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi.

Chithra is a guest lecturer at many institutions in Chennai like Kalakshetra Foundation, the Arts Management programme of DakshinaChitra, and the Asian College of Journalism. She frequently delivers lectures on heritage-related topics in various places in India.