Bharatendu Harishchandra

Born 1850 in the city of Banaras; died 1885. Indian writer. Wrote in Hindi.

Born into the family of a man of letters, Bharatendu Harishchandra traveled widely. He initiated the satirical trend in Hindi dramaturgy. He founded a theatrical society in the city of Banaras and was a director and actor. His first dramatic works were free translations of such Sanskrit works as Vidyasundar (1868) and Harischandra the Just (1874). His drama India’s Grief (1880) exposed, in symbolic form, the system of colonial oppression. He was the author of an unfinished novel directed against the vestiges of the Middle Ages. He wrote pamphlets, literary criticisms, essays, and travel notes. Bharatendu Harishchanda founded several literary-publicist periodicals. The period in the development of Hindi literature known as Bharatendu-yug is associated with his name.