The Many Careers of D.D. Kosambi

by D.N. Jha (Editor)

Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (July 31, 1907 ? June 29, 1966) was a man with a Renaissance type of he had a wide range of knowledge without sacrificing depth. He was a mathematician, statistician, and polymath who contributed to genetics by introducing Kosambi?s map function. He did pioneering work in numismatics and in compiling critical editions of ancient Sanskrit texts. Above all, he was an outstanding Marxist historian.//The present volume brings together articles by scholars who assess Kosambi?s contributions to Indian historiography, Indology, philology, the study of religions, historical materialism, and our understanding of caste in Indian history. While most essays deal with Kosambi the historian, the final essay presents a detailed scientific, historical and political assessment of his mathematical work. The essays are neither allergic to, nor adulatory about, Kosambi?s work, but seek to present a balanced and critical appraisal, as well as updating our knowledge with the current thinking in the field. //The editor of this volume, Prof. D. N. Jha, is an acclaimed historian. The other contributors Irfan Habib, Suvira Jaiswal, Prabhat Patnaik, C.K. Raju, Krishna Mohan Shrimali, Eugenia Vanina, and Kesavan Veluthat.

204 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Tushant Mittal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives a great overview of the diverse work done by Kosambi. There are interesting ideas in the the work of Kosambi (as explained in this book), that are not only deeply original but also merit further inquiry. The book does a good job of outlining these, with sufficient context.

Loved two essays in particular— Euginia Vanina on Kosambi's Medieval India, and the one on Religious Histories of India by Krishna Mohan Shrimali. The latter was comprehensive with a very helpful primer on 'history of religion', contrasting the ahistorical approach of Eliade with the materialist analysis of Kosambi.

The last one on Kosambi and math was fun with many interesting anecdotes, and nuggets of trivia. Kosambi worked (a bit) on Lie theory, and coincided with Andre Weil at AMU! The editing could have a little been better to cull out some of the repetitions but it wasn't much.