author
Robert Sewell
1845–1925
A British civil servant turned historian of South India, he is best remembered for bringing the story of Vijayanagar to a wide English-speaking readership. His work combined archival research with a lasting interest in inscriptions, chronology, and the historical record of the Madras Presidency.
1 Audiobook
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India
by Robert Sewell, active 16th century Fernão Nunes, active 16th century Domingos Paes
About the author
Born on June 4, 1845, Robert Sewell worked in the civil service of the Madras Presidency during British rule in India. He later became Keeper of the Madras Record Office, a role that helped shape his deep engagement with South Indian history, records, and archaeology.
Sewell is best known today for A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India, a book that helped introduce many readers to the history of the Vijayanagara Empire. He also worked on inscriptions and historical chronology, and his publications reflect a strong interest in preserving and organizing material from the past.
He died on December 30, 1925. While some aspects of his work belong clearly to the colonial era in which he lived, his books remain part of the long documentary history of South India and are still cited as early English-language contributions to the subject.