Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi

Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi Biography

Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi was a prominent Buddhist scholar from Goa. He was also widely recognized as a Pali language expert. Prominent mathematician and Marxist historian, Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi is his son. His best known contribution includes biography of Buddha written in Marathi titled - Bhagwan Buddha (1940). Kosambi also authored eleven books on Buddhism and Jainism and many of his works have been translated to different languages. Nivedan – is his autobiography work written in Marathi language. Kosambi founded Bahujanavihara, a shelter house for Buddhist monks in Mumbai.

He was born on October 9, 1876 in Sanhkval, Goa. He got married at a young age of only 16. He was passionate in learning and believed that his married life is its hindrance. So he attempted several times to leave the house and finally gained courage to do so, after the birth of his first baby. He returned home only after 4 years. But he left home once again to Pune to learn Sanskrit and from there he travelled to Ujjain, Indore, Gwalior, Prayag and Varanasi. At Varanasi he learnt Sanskrit from Gangadharpant Shastri and Nageshwarpant Dharmadhikari. Then he moved to Nepal to study Buddhism in its original language, Pali. But feeling discomfort he returned back to India, travelled to Bengal and then to Sri Lanka, where he enrolled himself in the Vidyodaya University and studied for three years. He also travelled to Burma to learn more about Buddhism and returned back to India.

Then he started his professional career as a reader at University of Calcutta and brought his family there. He also worked as a lecturer at different universities and authored many books on Buddhism and Jainism as well.  Kosambi also studied and translated many Jain works.

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Updated: June 12, 2018