Balkrishna Bhatt
1844–1914
Biography
Balkrishna Bhatt was a Hindi journalist, essayist, novelist and playwright, and one of the leading prose writers of the Bharatendu period, when modern Hindi prose was taking shape. He was born on 23 June 1844 in Prayag (Allahabad) into a respected family. After finishing school he studied Sanskrit at home and gained a good command of Urdu, Persian and English as well. He died on 20 July 1914.
He is best known as an editor and essayist. He set up the Hindivardhini Sabha at Prayag to promote Hindi and edited its monthly paper, Hindi Pradeep, for thirty-two years, and many of his essays first appeared in its pages. He also worked alongside Shyam Sundar Das and Ramchandra Shukla on the Hindi Shabdsagar dictionary.
Some scholars regard him as the first essayist in Hindi, and his essays are the core of his reputation. He also wrote plays, stories and novels, and about a dozen short books, among them Sau Ajan aur Ek Sujan, Rail ka Vikat Khel and Bal Vivah.
The book on this site, सौ अजान और एक सुजान, is one of these shorter works. It gives a sense of the clear, direct prose that Bhatt and his contemporaries were developing for Hindi readers.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
सौ अजान और एक सुजान
by बालकृष्ण भट्ट
An early Hindi satirical novel of 1892, whose title means a hundred fools and one wise man, in twenty-three chapters, each opened by a verse. Balkrishna Bhatt, a leading Hindi essayist of his day, laughs at foolish ways of living and the few who keep their sense.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.