Did Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi solve the Riemann Hypothesis - one of mathematics’s greatest puzzles? Was Kosambi, who wrote one of the most influential books on studying Indian history, ignored by both mathematicians and historians? Is he India’s Alan Turing?

This week we interview Prof Ram Ramaswamy, whose biography of the remarkably eclectic DD Kosambi: DD Kosambi, One Life, Many Worlds, gives a dispassionate, scholarly and insightful look into this mathematician and historian who was also a Sanskrit scholar and avowed Marxist. Ramaswamy, who’s taught at JNU, IIT Delhi and is a former Vice Chancellor at University of Hyderabad, has unearthed rich archival material to investigate the motivations, frustrations and sources of inspiration that shaped one of India’s greatest polymaths.

Host: Jacob Koshy

Producer and editor: Jude Weston

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Published - August 10, 2026 06:49 pm IST