Monk Mahan Maharaj gets Infosys Prize 2015 in Mathematical Science, says enjoys science and religion

KOLKATA: The simultaneous pursuit of science and religion may be an irreconcilable contradiction for most, but not for Mahan Maharaj.On Tuesday , this Ramakrishna Mission ascetic was awarded the Infosys Prize 2015 in Mathematical Science -which carries a Rs 65lakh purse and a 22-karat gold medallion -for his contributions to geometric group theory, low-dimensional topology and complex geometry.

In 1997, Mahajan, then known as Mahan Mitra, earned his PhD from the University of California, Berke ley on 'Maps on Boundaries of Hyperbolic Metric Spaces'. The very next year, he renounced the world and joined the Ramakrishna Mission order.

In 2013, in a rare interview to TOI, he had explained why he chose to be a monk. "Perhaps because I wanted to find the peace to work away at mathematical problems!" he laughed. "I am enjoying being a monk as much as I enjoy my mathematics."

Maharaj travels all over the world collaborating with mathematicians and lecturing students. "I am very much a part of the mathematics community , my uniform has got nothing to do with it," he jokes.

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University vicechancellor Swami Atmapriyananda said, "Maharaj is considered one of the brightest mathematicians in the world today . His findings and explanations are extremely sought-after globally . He is the perfect synthesis of religion and scientific quest, a breed that Swami Vivekananda wanted to establish in his Mission."

"His work is an important milestone in Thurston's program, started almost 40 years ago, of classifying the possible shapes of low dimensional spaces using the group of symmetries that they have as a tool," says New York University professor Srinivasa S R Varadhan, an Infosys award jury member, of Maharaj, also the youngest recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award, in 2011.

However, awards do not mean much to him. "I have little to do with awards. It is the recognition of the work which I value. The recognition is about the work, and not about the person," he said sitting at the Mathematics department in Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University , Belur.