India News | Academicians Mourn Demise of Eminent Historian VN Datta
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Noted scholars, literary personalities and journalists on Wednesday mourned the death of eminent historian Vishwa Nath Datta.
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) Noted scholars, literary personalities and journalists on Wednesday mourned the death of eminent historian Vishwa Nath Datta.
Born in 1926, Datta had an illustrious career as an outstanding academician and public intellectual, and belonged to independent India's first generation of historians who brought a liberal and pluralistic outlook to the writing of modern Indian history.
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Datta died at his residence in New Delhi on Monday. He was 94 years old.
While Historian Ramachandra Guha described Datta's work on Bhagat Singh, Maulana Azad and the Jallainwala Bagh as "landmarks of historical scholarship", acclaimed literature and culture critic Ashok Vajpayee said he was a scholar and teacher "with unusual academic rigour and a deep-rooted vision".
"Professor VN Datta's books on Bhagat Singh, Maulana Azad, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre are landmarks of historical scholarship. He was also a wonderfully generous human being. His work and example live on," Guha tweeted on Wednesday.
Paying homage to VN Datta, a wreath was also placed on behalf of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, informed Nonica Datta, the daughter of the late historian.
Datta, a professor Emeritus at Kurukshetra University and former general president of the Indian History Congress, studied at Government College, Lahore, Lucknow University and the University of Cambridge.
He started his career as Editor Indian Gazetteers, but left the successful career in the government to pursue his academic dreams, and joined Delhi University's Kirorimal College.
He eventually went on to take up multiple academic roles as a visiting professor at a number of universities, including Moscow, Leningrad, Berlin and resident fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
"He (Datta) had intellectually and emotionally evolved and nourished his egalitarian and liberal vision, with a view of India, its history and traditions, which was holistic, humane and humanising. For him India was a civilisational enterprise and the modern India had to discover and affirm it anew. He would be dearly missed," Vajpayee said.
Datta's long time colleague and a noted historian of Punjab, JS Grewal said the nation has lost an "eminent historian" and he a "kind friend" and "generous host".
"My association with Professor Datta is more than half a century old. Without yet knowing him personally, I was struck by his enthusiastic discussions in the Indian History Congress Sessions. I never saw him in low spirits. Whenever we met we had long conversations on a diversity of subjects. His comments were always scintillating. He wrote on new subjects and wrote very clearly, choosing his words with care. As a historian he had a strong sense of commitment," he added.
According to senior journalist HK Dua, Datta was someone who always believed in "plural society" and was an "objective analyst of historic events".
"Generations will remember his research based masterpiece on the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh where he came out with the new evidence based on Hunter Committee Reports. He always tried to be an objective analyst of historic events. He always believed in plural society," he said.
Some of Datta's well-known works include "Jallianwala Bagh", "Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Sarmad"; "Gandhi and Bhagat Singh"; "Amritsar: Past and Present" and "Sati: A Historical, Social, and Philosophical Enquiry Into the Hindu Rite of Widow-Burning".
Datta is survived by his wife and three daughters.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)