Dwijendra Narayan Jha (19404 February 2021) was an Indian historian who studied and wrote on ancient and medieval India He was a professor of history at Delhi University and a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research. Some of his books include Ancient India: In Historical Outline (1997), The Myth of the Holy Cow (2001), and Early India: A Concise History (2004). Through his works he argued against the communal distortions of history including challenging popular beliefs of the sanctity of cow and Indian beef eating tradition. Education Jha completed his Senior Secondary Schooling from Board of Secondary Certification, West Bengal with First Division. He did Intermediate Examination of Arts with first division and Bachelor of Arts (honours) in History at University of Calcutta and then his MA in history at Patna University where he was a student of Professor R.S. Sharma, who was amongst the first of modern Indian historians to study history through socio-economic analyses. Personal life Jha was born to Devswaroop Jha and Gauri Devi. He was born at his maternal village Ganauli (Darbhanga District) Now it is in Madhubani District, Bihar. His paternal village was Haitibali. He had two brothers and one sister. His eldest brother Devendra Narayan Jha was doctor and retired as assistant director, state Falaria control, Bihar health Services and died in 1990. His second brother died at very young age when he was in intermediate. His eldest sister Vimla Jha died in 2018. In 1975 he married RajRani Jha in Calcutta. Jha's eldest nephew Rajiv Jha works with CPI(M)'s central organ and is part of editotial team of Loklaher. Career Jha was a professor at the history department of the Delhi University specializing in ancient and medieval history. In a career of over three decades, he spoke against communal distortions of history. Through his works, he studied the socio-economic structures of early India and used India's ancient texts to draw linkages between culture and technology and the resulting social and state setup. In some of his early works he studied revenue systems and linkages between economy and society in ancient India. His study was a breakaway from both imperialist historians who studied India from a colonial lens and nationalist historians who studied Indian history through folklore, wars, and royalties. In doing so, he was a group of historians who believed that post independence India's nation building efforts hinged on a professional