Historian Dwijendra Narayan Jha’s entire life was spent in dispelling the influence of irrationality and unreason in Indian society. So much so that his books, innumerable research papers and scholarly interventions in political controversies earned him as much praise from the academic community as virulent wrath from the right-wing forces.

Jha, who died on Thursday at 81 after prolonged illness, had given one of his last interviews to The Wire ahead of the 2019 Supreme Court judgement that handed over the disputed land in Ayodhya to Hindu parties, even as he had suffered a paralytic attack a few years ago, and had lost much of his hearing.