Purushottam Agrawal served as member, Union Public Service Commission of India from 2007 to 2013. Before this, he was chairperson, Centre of lndian Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has also been visiting professor at the Faculty of Oriental studies, Cambridge University (UK) and at El Colegio de Mexico. His book Akath Kahani Prem Ki: Kabir ki Kavita aur Un ka Samay (2009) has been widely acclaimed as a path-breaking study of Kabir and his work.