Vishwa Nath Datta

2021-08-30T15:18:41Z

2402:3A80:91A:2730:1CDB:B782:335A:9857:

{{short description|Indian historian}}
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| birth_date = 25 May 1926
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| birth_place = [[Amritsar, India]]
| death_date = 30 November 2020 (aged 94)
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| occupation = [[Historian]]
| alma_mater = Government College, Lahore, Cambridge University, U.K.<ref name="Cambridge">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Vishwa Nath Datta: Letters to him - Archives Hub|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb12-ms.add.9578|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=26 August 2020|website=archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk}}</ref>

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'''Vishwa Nath Datta''' (25 May 1926 – 30 November 2020) was an Indian historian.

==Career==
He was Professor Emeritus in Kurukshetra University and General President of the [[Indian History Congress]], Resident Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, a Visiting Professor to a number of universities including Moscow, Leningrad, Berlin. Datta was born in Amritsar, India,<ref name="Guha">{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/jallianwala-bagh-revisiting-the-tipping-point-of-british-rule/cid/1688654|title=Jallianwala Bagh: Revisiting the 'tipping point' under British rule|last=Guha|first=Ramachandra|date=13 April 2019|website=www.telegraphindia.com|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=3 January 2020}}</ref> to the leading businessman [owning Shankar Das Vishwa Nath Company] <ref name= Company>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Brahm Nath Datt|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/318269/|archive-url=}}</ref> and renowned Urdu-Persian poet Padma Shri Brahm Nath Datta 'Qasir'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb12-ms.add.9578|title=Vishwa Nath Datta: Letters to him - Archives Hub|website=archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk|accessdate=Dec 1, 2020}}</ref>

They lived in Katra Sher Singh near Jallianwala Bagh.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/a-conspiracy-that-stirred-a-nation’s-consciousness-756871|title=A conspiracy that stirred a nation’s consciousness|last=Datta|first=Nonica|date=14 April 2019|website=Tribuneindia News Service|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=3 January 2020}}</ref>
Datta was educated at Government College, Lahore, Lucknow University, and Cambridge University, UK.<ref name="Cambridge"/>

Datta is the author of several works on Indian history. In 1967, he published ''Amritsar: Past and Present'', a history of the city of Amritsar. Two years later, on the 50th anniversary of the [[Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre]] <ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Why the Context of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Is So Important|url=https://thewire.in/history/interview-why-the-context-of-the-jallianwala-bagh-massacre-is-so-important|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=}}</ref>
, he wrote the pioneering work, ''Jallianwala Bagh'', and later he authored a comprehensive book relating to the 130-year history of ''[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]'' <ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title= Noorani, A.G., A Historian's Tribute, Frontline. April 20, 2012 |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/other/article30165228.ece
|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=}}</ref>
, a publication founded in 1881 by Sardar [[Dyal Singh Majithia]]. His other much acclaimed publications are ''Maulana Azad'', ''Maulana Azad and Sarmad'', ''Gandhi and Bhagat Singh'', ''Sati: A Historical, Social, and Philosophical Enquiry into the Hindu Rite of Widow- Burning''.

== Selected publications ==
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/jallianwala-bagh/oclc/133038 ''Jallianwala Bagh'']. Kurukshetra [Kurukshetra University Books and Stationery Shop for] Lyall Book Depot, 1969. {{OCLC|133038}}
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-light-on-the-punjab-disturbances-in-1919-volumes-vi-and-vii-of-disorders-inquiry-committee-evidence/oclc/2644032 ''New light on the Punjab disturbances in 1919 : volumes VI and VII of Disorders Inquiry Committee evidence'']. Simla : Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1975. With William Hunter Hunter, Lord; India. Committee on Disturbances in Bombay, Delhi, and the Punjab. {{OCLC|2644032}}
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/madan-lal-dhingra-and-the-revolutionary-movement/oclc/5414058 ''Madan Lal Dhingra and the revolutionary movement'']. New Delhi: Vikas, 1978. {{isbn|9780706906578}}. {{OCLC|5414058}}.
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-kurukshetra/oclc/13330154 ''History of Kurukshetra'']. Kurukshetra: Vishal, 1985. {{OCLC|13330154}}
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/sati-a-historical-social-and-philosophical-enquiry-into-the-hindu-rite-of-widow-burning/oclc/18737264 ''Sati: a historical, social and philosophical enquiry into the Hindu rite of widow burning'']. Riverdale, Md.: Riverdale Co., 1988. {{OCLC|18737264}}
* [https://www.worldcat.org/title/maulana-azad/oclc/21593610 ''Maulana Azad'']. New Delhi: Manohar, 1990. {{isbn|9788185054988}}. {{OCLC|21593610}}

=== Articles ===
* [https://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070311/spectrum/book1.htm "Understanding Bhagat Singh"]. ''The Tribune''. 11 March 2007
* [https://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070510/1857/main1.htm "1857: The First Challenge"]. ''The Tribune''. 10 May 2007

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p074qh0z/p074qg7m Amritsar 1919; Remembering a British Massacre]. Interview with V. N. Dutta. Zareer Masani.
* [https://www.epw.in/author/v-n-datta Economic and Political Weekly]
* [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F257681 Letters to VN Datta] The National Archives, Cambridge University Archives.
* [https://thewire.in/religion/the-forgotten-history-of-hussaini-brahmins-and-muharram-in-amritsar the-forgotten-history-of-hussaini-brahmins-and-muharram-in-amritsar].
* https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p074qh0z/p074qg7m

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Datta, Vishwa Nath}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Indian male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Amritsar]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge]]

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Vishwa Nath Datta