Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar (; 1846 or 1847 – 21 January 1903) was an Indian

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 ...

novelist, columnist and editor from

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. Born into a Kashmiri Brahmin family which settled in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, he received his education at Canning College and later took up employment as a schoolteacher. In August 1878, he was appointed editor of the Lucknow-based newspaper '' Avadh Akhbar'', in which his most famous work '' Fasana-e-Azad'' was published serially.

Biography

Sarshar's date of birth is uncertain. Most probably he was born in 1846 or 1847. He was born in a Kashmiri Brahmin (a group well known for their proficiency in

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 Urdu) family. His father, Pandit Bej Nath Dhar, a trader who immigrated from Kashmir to Lucknow, died when Sarshar was four years old; thereafter Sarshar was brought up by his mother. Sarshar was initially schooled in the traditional way by learning

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and Persian at a local ''maktab'' (primary school). Sarshar joined, for his schooling, the Canning College (which later migrated into

University of Lucknow University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...

), but left without taking a degree. In 1878, he joined ''Avadh Akhbar'' as its editor. In 1895, Sarshar moved to

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

where he was engaged by Maharaja Sir

Kishen Pershad Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad Bahadur Yamin us-Sultanat (1864 – 13 May 1940) was an Indian noble who served as Prime Minister of Hyderabad twice. He was a childhood friend of the Nizam and a staunch Nizam loyalist throughout his life. In 1 ...

to correct and improve upon his prose writings and poetic composition. Sarshar also edited a journal, ''Dabdaba-e-Asifi''. He died on 21 January 1903 at Hyderabad due to heavy drinking.

Works

The historian Ram Babu Saksena called Sarshar 'a most remarkable figure' in the last decade of nineteenth century. His serialized novel ''Fasana-e-Azad'' (The Tale of Azad), which appeared between 1878 and 1883 as a regular supplement in his paper, was influenced by novels like ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was the Debut novel, first novel serialised from March 1836 to November 1837 by English author Charles Dickens. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Bo ...

'' and ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', as well as the epic romances (dastan) of Persian and Urdu. Spanning over three thousand pages, the novel narrates the adventures of the protagonist, Azad, through the streets of

to the battlefields of the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

(1877–1878). It was first published in 1881 by Munshi Nawal Kishore Press. Sarshar gave copyrights for Fasana-e-Azad to Munshi Nawal Kishore of Lucknow who also published ''Talism Hoshruba''. ''Fasana-e-Azad'' was translated into Hindi as ''Azad Katha'' by

Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known as Munshi Premchand based on his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani language, Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer ...

, who also translated Sarshar's ''Sair-i-Kohsar'' as ''Parvat Yatra''. A Hindi TV serial '' Wah Janaab'' by satirist

Sharad Joshi Sharad Joshi was an Indian poet, writer, satirist and a dialogue and scriptwriter in Hindi films and television. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990. Biography Early life and education Sharad Joshi was born on 21 May 1931 in Ujjain, Madhya ...

'','' based on ''Fasana-e-Azad'', ran successfully on the state-run television channel

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

in the 1980s. His other novels are ''Sair-i-Kohsar'' and ''Jam-i-Sarshar''. His novel ''Gor-i-Ghariban'' remained unpublished due to his accidental death. His novel ''Khuda-e-Foujdar'' is an Urdu translation of ''Don Quixote''.

References

External links

*
Azad Goes to a Railway Restaurant
by Ratan Nath Dar 'Sarshar' (translated by Frances W. Pritchett) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarshar, Ratan Nath Dhar Kashmiri Hindus Kashmiri Pandits Kashmiri Brahmins Kashmiri writers Writers from Lucknow Date of birth uncertain 1903 deaths Urdu-language novelists Urdu-language writers from British India Urdu-language translators Urdu-language essayists Urdu-language poets from India Urdu-language humorists 19th-century Indian poets Novelists from Uttar Pradesh 19th-century Indian novelists 19th-century Indian translators Indian newspaper editors Translators of Don Quixote Translators of One Thousand and One Nights