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Mourning the loss of Ranjeeta Dutta

The members of the Max Weber Centre for Cultural and Social Sciences at the University of Erfurt bid farewell to Ranjeeta Dutta, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, who passed away unexpectedly on 25 October 2026. In 2020, she spent around a year at the Max-Weber-Kolleg as a fellow, working on a project entitled "Sacred Space, Urbanism and the Intersection between Tradition and Modernity: The Case of Srirangam in the Tamil Region of South India".

Ranjeeta Dutta was a key researcher in the Collaborative Research Group (KFG) “Religion and Urbanity. Reciprocal Formation”, led by Professor Susanne Rau and Professor Jörg Rüpke. “This is a great loss to academia and intellectual life in India. We shall cherish her memory with gratitude,” said Susanne Rau, who maintained a close research collaboration with Ranjeeta Dutta. 

Her work within the KFG project has resulted in several articles on the history of cities and urbanity in India. Her key study on “temple towns” in South India is due to be published online next year in “Religion & Urbanity”. 

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