Lallu Lal (1763–1835) was an academic, author and translator from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He was an instructor in the

Hindustani language Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in North India and Pakistan as the lingua franca of the region. It is also spoken by the Deccani people, Deccani-speaking community in the Deccan plateau. Hindustani is a pluricentric language w ...

Fort William College Fort William College (also known as the College of Fort William) was an academy of Orientalism, oriental studies and a centre of learning, founded on 18 August 1800 by Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, Lord Wellesley, then Governor-Gener ...

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, Calcutta. He is notable for ''Prem Sagar'', the first work in modern literary

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Biography

Lallu Lal was born into a

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

Sahsra Audichya Brahmin family from

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

. He had knowledge of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and Hindustani. He came to

Murshidabad Murshidabad (), is a town in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. This town is the headquarters of Lalbag subdivision of Murshidabad district. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river, Bhagirathi Riv ...

, Bengal, to earn a living, and served the

Nawab of Murshidabad Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad (), or simply Nawab of Murshidabad, was a hereditary title of Bengal akin to a Western peerage. They were direct descendants of the former nawabs of Bengal, who were the de facto rulers of Bengal Subah, Bengal, and ...

for seven years. He was noticed by John Gilchrist, who brought him to the Fort William College in Calcutta. There, Lallu Lal translated and authored several literary works into modern vernacular Hindi. He retired from the Fort William College in 1823–24 CE, after serving there for 24 years.

Works

Lallu Lal's most notable translation is ''Prem Sagar'' (1804–1810), the earliest prose in

Khari Boli Kauravi (, ), also known as Khaṛībolī, is a dialect of Hindustani descended from Shauraseni Prakrit that is mainly spoken in northwestern Uttar Pradesh, outside of Delhi. Modern Hindi and Urdu are two standard registers of Hindustani, ...

dialect of Hindi. Along with Kazim Ali Javan, he translated ''

Singhasan Battisi ''Singhasan Battisi'' is a collection of Indian folk tales. The title literally means "thirty-two (tales) of the throne". In the frame story, the 11th century king Bhoja discovers the throne of the legendary ancient king Vikramaditya. The throne ...

'' and ''

Shakuntala Shakuntala () is a heroine in ancient Indian literature, best known for her portrayal in the ancient Sanskrit play '' Abhijnanashakuntalam'' (The Recognition of Shakuntala), written by the classical poet Kalidasa in the 4th or 5th century AD ...

'' into Hindustani. Along with Mazhar Ali Vila, he also translated ''

Baital Pachisi The ''Vetala Panchavimshati'' (, IAST: ), or ''Betal Pachisi'' ("''Twenty-five (tales) of Betal''"), is a collection of tales and legends within a frame story, from India. Internationally, it is also known as Vikram-Vetala. It was originally wri ...

'' and ''Madhunal'' (1805) into Hindustani. Lallu Lal's original work included ''The Grammar of Brij-bhasa'' (1811), in

Urdu script The Urdu alphabet () is the right-to-left alphabet used for writing Urdu. It is a modification of the Persian alphabet, which itself is derived from the Arabic script. It has co-official status in the republics of Pakistan, India and South Afri ...

. He also authored ''Lala Chandrika'', a commentary on Bihari's ''

Satasai The ''Satasai (Satsai)'' or Bihari Satsai (Seven Hundred Verses of Bihari) is a famous work of the early 17th century by the Hindi poet Bihari (poet), Bihārī, in the Braj Bhasha dialect of Hindi spoken in the Braj region of northern India. It con ...

''. In addition, he compiled ''Lataif-i-Hindi'' or ''The New Cyclopedia Hindoostanica of Wit'' (1810) in Urdu and

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

scripts. It is a collection of around 100 witty stories and anecdotes.

Prem Sagar

''Prem Sagar'' or ''Prem Sagur'' ("Ocean of Love") was one of the first modern

books that was typeset and published, composed between 1804 and 1810, and published in 1810. A translation of Chaturbhuja Misra's

Braj Bhasa Braj is a language within the Indo-Aryan language family spoken in the Braj region in Western Uttar Pradesh centered on Mathura. Along with Awadhi, it was one of the two predominant literary languages of North-Central India before gradually ...

book, its story is based on the tenth book of the ''

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' (; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam)'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' () or simply ''Bhagavata (Bhāgavata)'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen major Puranas (''Mahapuranas'') and one ...

'', the legend of

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

. Lallu Lal mention that book has been composed in the "Khadi Boli of Delhi-Agra". The language is termed as "translated into Hinduvee from the Brij Bhasha" on the face page. The earliest Hindustani language literature made heavy use of Persian words, and resembled modern

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. Lallu Lal was among the first writers to use words of Indo-Aryan origin in Hindustani language literature. His ''Prem Sagar'' is the earliest work, whose language resembles modern

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

ized

. Linguist

Jules Bloch Jules Bloch (May 1, 1880 in Paris – November 29, 1953) was a French linguist who studied Indian languages, and was also interested in languages in their cultural and social contexts. Doctor of Letters in 1914, he was director of studies at the � ...

describes the importance of Lallu Lal's work as follows: The book was inspired stylistically by the ''Caurāsī Vaiṣṇavan kī Vārtā'', a 17th-18th century Braj Bhasha text written by Harirāy.

References

Bibliography

* The Prema-Sâgara or, Ocean of Love. Ed. by Frederick Pincoff. Westminster, Archibald Constable, 1891 * Théologie hindoue. Le Prem Sagar, océan d’amour. Traduit par Е. Lamairesse II., 1893, Saint-Amand, 1899 * The Prem Sagar in English. Allahabad, 1900

External links

The Prem Sagur of Lallu Lal

The Prem Sagur of Lallu Lal
translated into English by W. Hollings (1848) * Lullov-Lal, The Prem Sagur or the history of Krishnu, according to tho tenth chapter of the Bhaguvut of Vyasudevu, transl. into Hindu from the Bruj Bhasha etc. Calcutta, 1842 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lal, Lallu Hindi-language writers from India Gujarati people Writers from Agra 1763 births 1835 deaths 19th-century Indian male writers 18th-century Indian translators 19th-century Indian translators Scholars from British India People from the Bengal Presidency Hindi–English translators Urdu-language writers from British India Writers from Kolkata