attempt at writing history. Jha had repeatedly taken a position against Hindu nationalist ideology, arguing against what he claimed is communalism and saffronisation. He was critical of the view that "tolerance is the very essence of 'Hinduism qua Hinduism'''", and had claimed what he termed as Brahmanical intolerance since early India. He was credited with identifying inconsistencies in Indian history and his efforts to bring a contemporary relevance to ancient history. He was an author of multiple history text books for India's National Council of Educational Research and Training, the organization which developed the textbooks and course curricula for Indian schools. He also served as the secretary of the Indian History Congress and a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research He was a member of visiting faculty at the Institute of Oriental Culture in the University of Tokyo. In 1991, he wrote a paper, with other historians R.S. Sharma, Suraj Bhan, and Athar Ali, making a case that there was no evidence to prove that the Babri Masjid, a mosque in Ayodhya, was built over a temple at the same site. The findings were documented in Ramjanmabhoomi-Baburi Masjid: A Historians’ Report to the Nation (1991) which he co-wrote with The mosque was demolished a year later by right wing activists. The paper diverged in its findings from the Archaeological Survey of India's findings and was later dismissed by the Supreme Court of India in 2019 as an opinion. In his 2001 book, The Myth of the Holy Cow, he made a case that beef was part of the early Indian diet and used also for medicinal purposes. He quoted religious and non-religious texts from ancient periods to dispel the prevailing belief that cow was holy and its meat not a part of historical Indian consumption. The book quoted Charaka Samhita to say that it was used in soups for intermittent fevers, emaciation, and tuberculosis, while the fat was used in the treatment of rheumatism. He used text from the Vedas and Upanishads to argue that cattle were routinely offered in sacrifice to various ancient deities. He then argued that the sacred status afforded to cows was a much more recent development. He also challenged the notion that the age of the Gupta Empire (320 CE to 550 CE) was the "golden age" of Indian history. He argued that the notion of a gilded age before the Mughal Empire