Sita Narasimhan

Sita Narasimhan (born 15 June 1929) is an Indian academic.

Narasimhan was born in Madras (Chennai), South India, the daughter of Padmini and V. K. Thiruvenkatachari, who was Advocate General of Madras State. She married once to Dr R Narasimhan. She was lecturer in English Literature at Miranda House in New Delhi, and at Presidency College, Madras, as well as Director of Studies in English Literature at Newnham College, Cambridge, from 1966-1979. Among her publications was a translation of Vinoba's Talks on the Bhagavad Gita. Sita died peacefully at her daughter Tanjam Jacobson's home near Washington, D.C., 19 February 2013.

Born in Madras on 15 June 1929, Sita was considered to be "one of the most brilliant persons in the Vangal family". She learnt German, took a First in economics at Cambridge, then became a member of the English faculty at that university, and also made an in depth study of Hindu religious texts. In 1983, she wrote a biographical essay on another iconic woman, "Joan Robinson: In the Radical Vein. A Laywoman's Homage", in the Cambridge Journal of Economics. Her published books include Saivism Under The Imperial Cholas as revealed through their Monuments. She had close connections with Mahatma Gandhi with whom she walked.

At Newnham, one of Sita Narasimhan's students was Patricia Hewitt, now Chair of the UK India Business Council. Speaking about Sita, Hewitt was quoted in The Telegraph saying "I found myself in the extraordinary position of being a young Australian student, reading English literature at one of the oldest British universities, with a director of studies who was Indian — Sita Narasimhan was a wonderful scholar of English literature but also brought a very deep knowledge of Sanskrit."[1]

Sita Narasimhan was married to Professor R. Narasimhan (1926-2007), doyen of Indian Computer science, designer of India's first general purpose computer, first President of the Computer Society of India, who spent much of his working life at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. In 2011 with their daughter Tanjam Jacobson and Dr Krishna Bharat, Sita set up an endowment for memorial lectures at the TIFR in her husband's name.

Sita Narasimhan was a fascinating tutor to a large number of students across three continents and extended a hand of friendship to many. Elizabeth De Michelis cited her help in the writing of the History of Modern Yoga and she taught generations of Cambridge English students including Emma Thompson and Simon McBurney.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090322/jsp/7days/story_10705882.jsp

External links

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