Sri Ram Mehrotra (23 June 1931 – 17 July 2019) was an Indian professor of history who published on the history of the Indian independence movement, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, the life and work of its founder

Allan Octavian Hume Allan Octavian Hume, Order of the Bath, CB Indian Civil Service, ICS (4 June 1829 – 31 July 1912) was a British political reformer, ornithologist, civil servant and botanist who worked in British Raj, British India and was the founding spirit ...

, and on the writings and philosophy of

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

. He also wrote a biography of

Pranjivan Mehta Pranjivandas Jagjivandas Mehta (1864 – 3 August 1932) was a Mumbai-born physician, lawyer and jeweller who settled in Burma. He was a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, helping Gandhi in England, helping him return from South Africa to India and ...

, an important but little-known influence in the Indian independence movement who supported Gandhi. Mehrotra was known for his meticulous detail to sources and care in interpretations and published several annotated collections of sources and letters relating to Hume and towards the end of his life,

Dadabhai Naoroji Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917), also known as the ''"Grand Old Man of India"'' and "Unofficial Ambassador of India", was an Indian independence activist, political leader, merchant, scholar and writer. He was one of the f ...

Life and career

Mehrotra was born in Anantram, Etawah. He went to a local government school (which had been founded by A. O. Hume, an abiding professional interest in later life) and later to the

University of Allahabad The University of Allahabad is a Central university (India), Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). ...

, receiving an M.A. in history in 1950 after which he went to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

from where he received a Ph.D. in 1960. His Ph.D. dissertation was published as a book ''India and the Commonwealth'' (1965). He then worked as a lecturer at the University of London. He then moved to India and became a founding professor in the department of history at the

Himachal Pradesh University Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) is a Public university, public State university (India), state university at Summer Hill, Shimla, Summer Hill, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. It was established on 22 July 1970 by ''The Himachal Pradesh University A ...

in 1971. He was a visiting professor at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1974 and Visiting Fellow at St. John's College, Cambridge 1983-84. He was Jawaharlal Nehru Professor at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak and a Fellow of the

Indian Institute of Advanced Study The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) is a research institute located in Shimla, India. It was set up by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 1964 and started functioning from 20 October 1965. History and establishment The ...

, Shimla. Mehrotra received an honorary

D.Litt. Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

from Himachal Pradesh University in 2014, receiving the award from the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

, honoured guest at the convocation ceremony.

Personal life

Mehrotra was married to historian Dr Eva Mehrotra from 24 July 1957 until her death. The couple had no children. On retirement he moved to Shimla where he lived at Seva, Kenfield Estate. He died at his home in Shimla following a fall and hip injury.

Writings

Mehrotra's published works include: * ''Emergence of the Indian National Congress'' (1971, republished in 2004) * ''The Commonwealth and the Nation'' (1978) * ''Towards India’s Freedom and Partition'' (1979) * ''A History of the Indian National Congress: Volume One, 1885-1918'' (1995) * ''M. K. Gandhi's Hind Swaraj: A Critical Edition'' (2010) * ''The Mahatma and the Doctor'' (2014) * (with Edward C. Moulton) ''Selected Writings of Allan Octavian Hume. Volume I'' (2004) He also published numerous journal papers on the pre-Independence period that included such topics as the history of the British India Society, the Landholders' Society, the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, as well as reviews of historical works. The proposed second volume of his history of the Indian National Congress, taking the story to independence in 1947, was never completed.

References

External links

Obituary - the Himachal Guardian

* ttps://archive.org/details/indiacommonwealt0000mehr ''India and the Commonwealth 1885-1929'' (1965)
''A History of the Indian National Congress 1885-1918. Volume 1.'' (1995)

''Towards India's freedom and partition'' (1979)

''The emergence of the Indian National Congress''
(1971) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehrotra, S.R. 20th-century Indian historians 1931 births 2019 deaths People from Etawah 21st-century Indian historians Academic staff of Maharshi Dayanand University Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge