Vishwa Nath Datta was born in Amritsar, India, on 20 March 1926. He matriculated as a research student at Fitzwilliam House in November 1950, and received his M.Litt. in February 1954. After lecturing in History at Kirori Mal College, Delhi, and Delhi University between 1954 and 1958, he was editor of the Indian Gazetteers for the Ministry of Education, Government of India, 1958-1962. Datta was subsequently appointed head of the History Department at Kurukshetra University, where he was Professor of Modern History and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and became Professor Emeritus in 1986. He held numerous visiting professorships and fellowships, and in 1998 was a Resident Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. His publications include Jallianwala Bagh (Ludhiana and Kurukshetra, 1969), Madan Lal Dhingra and the revolutionary movement (New Delhi, 1978), Sati: a historical, social and philosophical enquiry into the Hindu rite of widow burning (New Delhi, 1988) and, as editor, New light on the Punjab disturbances in 1919 (Simla, 1975).
From the guide to the Vishwa Nath Datta: Letters to him, 1952-1993, (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)
