The importance of being DD Kosambi
Ram Ramaswamy’s ‘DD Kosambi: One Life, Many Worlds’ is an attempt to probe the pasts of this man of Promethean originality
Updated At : 05:42 AM Sep 04, 2026 IST
DD Kosambi: One Life, Many Worlds by Ram Ramaswamy. HarperCollins. Pages 384. Rs 899
DD Kosambi wrote a book with the title ‘Introduction to the Study of Indian History’ in 1956. It ignited a firestorm that burnt down the basic assumptions of history writing in India. The India of the extant narratives was a saga of kings and conquerors. A student of history, on being asked about the difference between Ashoka and Akbar, might have said that both were good kings… one a Buddhist and the other a Muslim and trail off in a confused murmur. Kosambi’s writings would revolutionise answers to such questions.
