Devaki Nandndan Khatri (1861–1913) was born in Pusa, Bihar, in the home of his maternal grandfather, Jivanlal Mahato, a wealthy landowner. His father, Lala Ishvardas, descended from an illustrious family from Lahore. He shot to literary fame with his first novel, Chandrakanta, at the age of twenty-six. He subsequently set up his own printing press, the Lahari Press, in Banaras. His other popular works include Chandrakanta Santati and Bhutnath.
R
ohini Chowdhury is a children’s writer and literary translator, with some thirty books to her credit. She is widely regarded for her translations of the seventeenth century text, Ardhakathanak, the autobiography of poet and thinker Banarasidas, and of the acclaimed Hindi novel, Tyagpatra by Jainendra.
