Series 7: Photographs

The bulk of the accession consists of correspondence, in the form of typed and hand-written letters. Institutional correspondence includes memoranda and official correspondence with institutions and collaborators in India and abroad. Includes a few recommendation letters for former students made by Madhava Rao.

The research reference materials in the accession are included as they are relatively rare and hard to find, and pertain to a network of persons, mathematical societies and institutions connected to Madhava Rao. Madhava Rao has translated or made handwritten notes on the material he was referencing, these have been retained.

Another part of the accession comprises photographs. These are official portraits like photographs of a batch of students or sports teams in Central College, that are included as loose or framed photographs. They also include photographs that were taken with his friends, colleagues and peers during conferences and meetings.

Teaching and Administration materials consist of handwritten notes for lectures, printed and handwritten addresses given at scientific events and public programmes. Notebooks contain detailed notes and references on mathematical concepts. Several question papers made by Madhava Rao for institutions are also part of the material. Invitations and programme details of conferences and annual meetings of scientific organisations are also included.

Writings comprises handwritten notes and manuscripts of papers as well as published papers written by Madhava Rao and colleagues in mathematics and theoretical physics.

The personal material also contains awards, copies of newspaper articles on Madhava Rao, and tributes made to him. Madhava Rao was an avid sports fan, and has a few newspaper articles on sporting glories.

The final part of the accession are notebooks related to recreational mathematics. Madhava Rao devoted the final years of his life to researching and collecting material for a book on magic squares, developing the concepts in the final chapter of Narayana Pandita’s 14th century treatise on mathematics called Ganita Kaumudi.