[1][2] She is among the founding figures of Indo-Anglian literature, alongside Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809–1831), Manmohan Ghose (1869–1924), and Sarojini Naidu (1879–1949).

Her father, Govind Chandra Dutt was known to be of pro imperialist thoughts and worked as a Magistrate in Calcutta.

[5] Dutt was educated at home by her father and by an Indian Christian tutor, Babu Shib Chunder Banerjee.

[5] During this time, she developed a love for English literature, growing to understand and appreciate works such as John Milton's epic, Paradise Lost.

[5] A few years after her brother Abjie died at the age of fourteen,[6] the family sailed for Europe as Toru's father hoped to give his daughters the best education.

This was a chance for women to access University lectures, set up by a group that included the philosopher Henry Sidgwick and the suffragist Millicent Garrett Fawcett.

[9] The family left Cambridge in 1873, living in St Leonards, Sussex from April to November 1873 (where the sisters also attended some classes), before their return to Calcutta.

Even though the Dutt family spent more time living in England than in France, Toru and her sister were captivated by the latter.

France of 1871, conquered, blood-stained and distracted by internal feuds, made a deep impression on her, awakening her keenest sympathies and inspiring one of her most original poems, 'France'.

dare ye, for an hour's mischance Gather around her, jeering France, Attila's own exulting horde ?

[5] At first the collection attracted little attention, though it eventually came to the notice of Edmund Gosse in 1877, who reviewed it favourably in the Examiner that year.

Edmund Gosse wrote an introduction for Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan: "She brought with her from Europe a store of knowledge that would have sufficed to make an English or French girl seem learned, but which in her case was simply miraculous.

"[10] Some well-remembered poems from the volume include "A Sea of Foliage", "The Lotus", "Sîta", and "Our Casuarina Tree."

[5] Notable magazine publications of the time include essays on Leconte de Lisle and Henry Louis Vivian Derozio in December 1874.

[5] She took consolation in reinvigorating her studies of Sanskrit with her father and hearing her mother's stories and songs about India.

[5] A documentary film of 15 minutes' duration Reviving Toru Dutt, consisting mostly of stills of her tomb and of her letters and papers, was produced in 2009 to a screenplay by Dr Geeta Sheth, (who had previously completed a thesis on Toru Dutt), and directed by Deep Panjwani and Ravi Rajput for Foreshadow Pictures.