Published by the Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore) in 2008,[1] the book was edited by Rohini Godbole and Ram Ramaswamy.

Covering a range of disciplines, in these essays the scientists talk of what brought them to science, what kept their interest alive, and what has helped them achieve some measure of distinction in their careers.

The title of the collection is a nod to the 12th-century treatise, Lilavati, written by the Indian mathematician Bhāskara II wherein problems in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, etc.

A shorter (and different) version of Lilavati's Daughters was brought out as "The Girl's Guide to a Life in Science", edited by Ram Ramaswamy, Rohini Godbole and Mandakini Dubey (co-published with Young Zubaan, New Delhi).

There are short biographies of the botanist E. K. Janaki Ammal, the chemists Asima Chatterjee and Darshan Ranganathan, India's first female physician Anandibai Joshee, the anthropologist Iravati Karve, the biochemist Kamala Sohonie, the medical researcher Kamal Ranadive, physicist B. Vijayalakshmi and meteorologist Anna Mani.