Romesh Chunder Dutt was born in Calcutta on August 13, 1848, and received his education there and at University College and the Middle Temple, London. He was called to the bar and in 1869 passed the examination for entrance to the Indian civil service, in which he served -- as the only native Indian in the nineteenth century to rise to executive authority -- from 1871 to 1897. His positions included collector of Backerganj, acting commissioner of Burdwan, and commissioner of Orissa. Created a C.I.E. in 1892, Dutt returned to England and became lecturer in Indian history at University College in London from 1898 to 1904. In India he had written works on Bengal history and literature, done school primers, penned half a dozen romances in his own tongue, and translated into Bengali the Rig Veda in 1886. At London, in 1899-1900, Dutt published an English translation of excerpts from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, which in time came out in the Everyman's Library series. He wrote political and social tracts to influence British colonial policy and from 1904 to his death of a heart attack in 1909 served as revenue and then prime minister of Baroda. Dutt and Nobo Gopal Bose wed in 1864 and had a son and five daughters.
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Dutt, Romesh Chunder. Cultural Heritage of Bengal; a Biographical and Critical History from the Earliest Times Closing with a Review of Intellectual Progress under British Rule in India. 3rd edn. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1962. PK 1701 8 962 Robarts Library
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--. Early Hindu civilisation: B.C. 2000 to 320, Based on Sanskrit Literature. 4th edn. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1963. DS 451 D97 1963 Robarts Library
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--. The Economic History of India under Early British Rule; from the Rise of the British Power in 1757 to the Accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. 2nd edn. London K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1906. Ec.H D9793e Robarts Library
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--. England and India: a Record of Progress during a Hundred Years, 1785-1885. New Delhi, India: Mudgal Publications, 1985. DS 463 D86 1985 Robarts Library
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--. Famines and Land Assessments in India. Delhi: B.R. Pub., 1985. HJ 4392 I4D88 1985 Robarts Library
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--. India in the Victorian age; an Economic History of the People. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1904. Ec.H D9793ind Robarts Library
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--. The Lake of Palms: a Story of Indian Domestic Life. 2nd edn. London: Fisher Unwin, 1903. DS 421 D88 1903 Robarts Library
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--. Later Hindu Civilisation, A.D. 500 to A.D. 1200, based on Sanskrit Literature. 4th edn. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1965. DS 425 D87 1965 Robarts Library
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--. Lays of Ancient India: Selections from Indian Poetry Rendered into English Verse. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1894. British Library 2318.h.9
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--. The Literature of Bengal: a Biographical and Critical History from the Earliest Times, Closing with a Review of Intellectual Progress under British Rule in India. Calcutta: T. Spink, 1895. PK 1701 K8 1895 Victoria College Library
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--. Open Letters to Lord Curzon and Speeches and Papers. Intro. D.N. Gupta. Delhi, India: Gian, 1986. HC 434 D88 1986 Robarts Library
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--. Reminiscences of a Workman's Life. Calcutta: privately printed, 1896.
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--. Sivaji; a Historical Tale of the Great Mahratta Hero and Patriot. Allahabad: Kitabistan, 1944. PK 1718 D887M313 Robarts Library
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--, trans. Maha-Bharata, Epic of the Bharatas. London: Ballantyne, Hanson, 1898. PK 3633 A2D8 Robarts Library
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--. Mahabharata Condensed in English Verse. Calcutta: Elm Press, 1906. BL 1138.2 1906 Robarts Library
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--. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, condensed into English verse. London: Dent, 1929. LSansk D9789r Robarts Library