An Indian for All Seasons

Book excerpt: This rich biography, coinciding with his death centenary, illuminates the remarkable journey of Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848-“1909) situated at the cusp of two centuries and two world views. It traces Dutt's eventful life-from his running away to England at the age of twenty, and being an exemplary ICS officer (the second Indian in the service), to his early retirement and entry into politics, and becoming president of the Indian National Congress in 1899. Dutt's contribution as an economic historian, a translator of Sanskrit epics into English, and a novelist in Bengali, are elaborately discussed and the contradictions in his attitudes to language, to colonialism, and to religion acknowledged. Featuring Curzon, Naoroji, Vidyasagar, Bankimchandra, Gokhale, Sayaji Rao Gaekwad and other luminaries of the national movement, this meticulously researched and elegantly written book captures an extraordinary moment in modern Indian history and will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.