OBITUARY: Govind Purushottam Deshpande

Govind Purushottam Deshpande, renowned Marxist scholar, Marathi playwright, and Professor of China Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in his professional academic career, who passed away on October 16, occupied a unique position in the intellectual universe of the country. His life was marked by extraordinary transitions: coming from a Socialist Party background he made a transition to Communism; from Ancient Indian History in which he did his Masters, he made a transition to China Studies; steeped in Marathi literature and culture, he became a leading exponent of Marxist aesthetics; and settled within the cloisters of JNU, engaged in teaching China Studies, he became not just an outstanding creative dramatist, but an acute critical scholar of modern Indian theatre, a person in close interaction with the likes of Satyadev Dubey, Shriram Lagoo and Amol Palekar.