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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}
{{distinguish|text=his son, the mathematician and historian [[Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi]]}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dharmananda D. Kosambi
| image = धर्मानंद दामोदर कोसंबी.jpg
| image_size = 175px
| caption =
| birth_date = 9 October 1876
| birth_place = Sanhkval, [[Goa]], [[Portuguese India]]
| death_date = {{d-da|4 June 1947|9 October 1876}}
| death_place = Sevagram, [[Wardha]], India
| occupation = Buddhist scholar and Pāli language expert
| spouse =
| relatives = [[Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi]] (son)<br/>[[Meera Kosambi]] (granddaughter)
}}
'''Acharya Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi''' (9 October 1876 – 4 June 1947) was a prominent [[India]]n [[Buddhist]] scholar and a [[Pāli]] language expert. He was the father of the illustrious mathematician and prominent Marxist historian, [[Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi]].

==Biography==
Kosambi was born in the Sankhval village of Goa in 1876 in orthodox [[Gaud Saraswat Brahmin|Saraswat brahmin]] family. He was married at the age of sixteen.<ref name="kamat">{{cite web
|title = Portrait of D.D. Kosambi
|publisher = Kamat's Potpourri
|url = http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/4444.htm
|accessdate = 1 June 2018
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180412030445/http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/4444.htm#
|archive-date = 12 April 2018
|url-status = live
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> He was passionately interested in knowledge and felt that married life would not allow him to pursue this goal. He thus attempted to leave home several times, but lacked the courage to do so and he returned to his family. However, after the birth of his first daughter, Manik, he did leave his family not returning for nearly four years. Needless to say, his wife, Balabai, suffered during these years, as it was uncommon at the time for a married man to leave his wife and family. Later, Kosambi first traveled to Pune with an intention to learn Sanskrit. From Pune, he traveled to Varanasi after brief sojourns in Ujjain, Indore, Gwalior and Prayag. At Varanasi, he diligently learnt Sanskrit under the tutelage of Gangadharpant Shastri and Nageshwarpant Dharmadhikari. He faced many difficulties in Kashi while attempting to provide for himself. He had to work hard to earn enough to eat and maintain accommodation. To make matters worse, Kashi was affected by a severe epidemic during his time there. Still, he made phenomenal progress in Sanskrit.

Some time later, he moved to Nepal to study Buddhism in its original language, Pāli. However, he was rather disappointed with the dismal state of Buddhism there and instead traveled to [[Calcutta]] and then on to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), where he enrolled himself in the Vidyodaya University. He studied there for three years under the tutelage of Shri Sumangalacharya and was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1902. Later, he went to [[Burma]] (Myanmar) and undertook comparative study of Buddhist texts in [[Burmese language]]. After spending seven years abroad, Kosambi returned to India.

He started working as a reader at the [[University of Calcutta]] and brought his wife and daughter Manik to Calcutta. His son Damodar was born in 1907. Later, Dharmananda gave up his university job to work as a research fellow in Baroda. Later, he started lecturing all over Western India, and finally moved to [[Fergusson College]] in Pune. In Bombay, he met Dr. James Woods from [[Harvard University]], who was seeking a scholar adept in Sanskrit, Ardhamagadhi, and Pāli. Woods invited Kosambi to Harvard, to complete the task of compiling a critical edition of [[Visuddhimagga]], a book on Buddhist philosophy. At Harvard, Kosambi learned Russian and took keen interest in Marxism. He traveled to the [[USSR]] in 1929 and taught Pāli at [[Leningrad University]].<ref name="kamat"/>

When the Indian independence movement was at its peak, Kosambi returned to India and taught at [[Gujarat Vidyapith]] without remuneration. He also started recruiting volunteers for [[Salt Satyagraha]]. He was imprisoned for six years for participating in the Salt Satyagraha, which certainly took a toll on his health.<ref name="kamat"/>

Besides Buddhist works, Kosambi also studied and translated many [[Jain]] works. Later, Kosambi founded ''Bahujanavihara'', a shelter house for Buddhist monks in Bombay, which exists to this day.

==Death==
Under the influence of Jainism, Kosambi decided to give up his life through [[sallekhana]] (voluntary fasting). Gandhiji requested that he move to Wardha for naturopathy and reconsider his decision to fast unto death. He moved to Sevagram, near Wardha, but kept his diet to a spoon of bitter gourd (karela) juice in order to respect Gandhi's wishes. He wanted to die on Buddha Pournima but lived beyond it for a few days. The end came after 30 days of fasting in June 1947.

==Works==
He authored one of the most popular biographies of Buddha, ''Bhagwan Buddha'' (1940) in Marathi.<ref>{{cite web
|title = Buddhism's Revival in India in the 20th Century
|url = http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/paths/BuddhismRevival.doc
|first = Vinay
|last = Lal
|date = 24 February 2006
|publisher = UCLA College - Social Sciences
|accessdate = 1 June 2018
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215557/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/paths/BuddhismRevival.doc#
|archive-date = 3 March 2016
|url-status = live
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> It was later translated in English and in other Indian languages by Central [[Sahitya Akademi]]. Besides ''Bhagwan Buddha'', Kosambi also authored eleven books on Buddhism and Jainism. He also wrote a play titled "Bodhisatva" in Marathi which sketches the life of Gautama Buddha in story form. His autobiography, written in Marathi, is called ''Nivedan'' which was a serialized column published in a Panjim-based periodical called ‘Bharat’ from November 1912 till February 1916.

===Bibliography===
* ''Dharmanand Kosambi: The Essential Writings'', ed. by Meera Kosambi. Orient Blackswan, 2013.
* ''Bhagawan Buddha'' by Dharmanand Kosambi, Sahitya Akademi.
* ''Nivedan: The Autobiography of Dharmanand Kosambi'', trans. by Meera Kosambi. Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2011.

==See also==
*[[Rahul Sankrityayan]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Scholars-Extraordinary/articleshow/6621118.cms | newspaper=[[The Times of India]] | date=25 September 2010 | title=Scholars Extraordinary | author=Dileep Padgaonkar}}
* [http://www.caravanmagazine.in/books/monk-mathematician-marxist/ Monk, Mathematician, Marxist] by [[Ananya Vajpeyi]], ''The Caravan'', 1 Feb 2012.
* [http://dharmanandkosambi.com/ Website devoted to Dharmanandji's literature] maintained by Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan, Mumbai
* [http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1918/19180720.htm The making of an Indologist] on ''Frontline''
* [http://permanent-black.blogspot.in/2011/04/kosambi-kosambi-and-kosambi.html/ Nivedan - Dharmanand Kosambi's Autobiography] translated and edited by Meera Kosambi
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDFLeAAcXP8 Video]. Meera Kosambi speaks at the release of ''Dharmananda Kosambi: The Essential Writings'' (2013)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosambi, Dharmananda Damodar}}
[[Category:Marathi-language writers]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Saint Petersburg State University faculty]]
[[Category:Scholars from Goa]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian scholars]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian scholars]]

Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi - Revision history

CleanupBot at 04:14, 2 January 2022