Robert Orme (1728-1801):-

When the Britishers descended on the Indian scene,the Indo-Muslim historical writing was in a fairly advanced stage. While the British East India company was busy expanding its trade through its commercial network, the administrative – scholars were active in delving deep into India’s past. They collected considerable source materials and preserved them in the India Office Library,London. Robert Orme was the pioneering historian who recorded contemporary events.

His Life and Work

Born in 1728, Robert Orme was educated at Harrow. He came to Calcutta at the age of 14, joined the East India company in 1743 and rose to the position of a member of the council of madras. He worked as the official historiographer of the company from 1769 till his demise in 1801 Orme’s historical works include

1)               A History of the military transactions of the British Nation in Industan from the year 1745, published in 1764 and

2)               Historical fragments of the Mughal Empire of the Morattoes and the English concerns from the year M.DC.LIX (1782).

Pioneering study

Orme ’s works are based on his personal investigation , hearsay accounts and study of chronicles. They provide glimpses of the political conditions prevailed in India in the later half of the 18^th century.He found that Indians had lost all memory of the historic past and were indulging in the mythological stories of Vishnu, Isvara, Brahma and a thousand other petty deities which he considered “a heap of the greatest absurdities” Orme with audacious boldness retrieved Indian history from the clutches of mythology,tradition and superstition. He brought order out of the chaos of India’s distant past when the British power had not been established. Orme’s works are of great historical value. Though his works are written from the point of view of the English,subsequent writers drew inspiration from him.