imported>Serols: Reverted edits by 103.95.81.140 (talk) (HG) (3.4.10)

2021-05-31T15:41:54Z

Reverted edits by 103.95.81.140 (talk) (HG) (3.4.10)

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{{short description|Indian writer and newspaper editor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar
| image = Ratannath Sarshar.jpg
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt = A mustachioed Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar, wearing a fez
| caption =
| pseudonym = Sarshar
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1846 or 1847
| birth_place =
| death_date = 21 January 1903
| death_place = [[Hyderabad]]
| resting_place =
| occupation = novelist, columnist, editor
| language = [[Urdu]]
| residence =
| nationality = [[British Raj|British India]]
| education =
| alma_mater =
| home_town =
| period =
| notableworks = ''[[Fasana-e-Azad]]''
| spouse =
| children =
| relatives =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| years_active =
}}
'''Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar''' (1846 or 1847 – 21 January 1903) was an [[Urdu]] novelist, columnist and editor from [[British Raj|British India]]. Born into a [[Kashmiri Pandit|Kashmiri Brahmin]] family which settled in [[Lucknow]], 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.<ref name="Hussain1964">{{cite thesis|last=Husain|first=Firoz|title=Life and works of Ratan Nath Sarshar|year=1964|type=PhD thesis|url=http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/29122|publisher=SOAS University of London|page=11–18}}</ref> Most probably he was born in 1846 or 1847. He was born in [[Kashmiri Pandit|Kashmiri Brahmin]] (a group well known for their proficiency in [[Persian language|Persian]] 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]] and Persian at a local ''maktab'' (primary school).<ref name="Dubrow2011">{{cite thesis|last=Dubrow|first=Jennifer|title=From newspaper sketch to "novel": The writing and reception of "Fasana-e Azad" in North India, 1878–1880|year=2011|url=https://search.proquest.com/openview/8a00b19503d55244286469b43c98f453|publisher=Departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago|type=PhD thesis|page=57|via=[[ProQuest]]}} {{closed access}}</ref>

Sarshar joined, for his schooling, the Canning College (which later migrated into [[University of Lucknow]]), but left without taking a degree. In 1878, he joined ''Avadh Akhbar'' as its editor.<ref name="Lal2007">{{cite book|editor-last=Lal|editor-first=Mohan|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Navaratri to Sarvasena|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwcMvwEACAAJ|year=2007|orig-year=1991|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|oclc=633744520|page=3830}}</ref>

In 1895, Sarshar moved to [[Hyderabad]] where he was engaged to Maharaja Sir [[Kishen Pershad]] to correct and improve upon his prose writings and poetic composition. Sarshar also edited a journal, ''Dabdaba-e-Asifi''.<ref name="Lal2007"/>

He died on 21 January 1903 at Hyderabad due to [[Alcoholism|heavy drinking]].<ref name="Hussain1964"/>

==Works==
The historian Ram Babu Saksena called Sarshar 'a most remarkable figure' in the last decade of nineteenth century.<ref name="Saksena1990">{{cite book|last=Saksena|first=Ram Babu|title=A History of Urdu Literature|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofurdulit0000saks|year=1990|publisher=Asian Educational Services|location=New Delhi|oclc=312754167|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofurdulit0000saks/page/325 325]–326}}</ref>

His serialized novel ''Fasana-e-Azad'' (The Tale of Azad), which appeared between 1878 and 1883 as a regular supplement in his paper,<ref name="Dubrow2018">{{cite book|last=Dubrow|first=Jennifer|title=Cosmopolitan Dreams: The Making of Modern Urdu Literary Culture in Colonial South Asia|url=https://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/523583|date=October 2018|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-7270-0|chapter=The Novel in Installments: Fasana-e Azad and Literary Modernity|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9780824876692/9780824876692-006/9780824876692-006.xml|pages=35–36|via=[[De Gruyter]]}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> was influenced by novels like ''[[The Pickwick Papers]]'' and ''[[Don Quixote]]'', as well as the epic romances (dastan) of Persian and Urdu.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} Spanning over three thousand pages, the novel narrates the adventures of the protagonist, Azad, through the streets of [[Lucknow]] to the battlefields of the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russo-Turkish War]] (1877–1878).<ref name="Dubrow2018"/> It was first published in 1881 by Munshi Naval Kishore Press. Sarshar gave copyrights of Fasana-e-Azad to Munshi Naval Kishore of Lucknow who also published ''Talism Hoshruba''. ''Fasana-e-Azad'' was translated into Hindi as ''Azad Katha'' by [[Premchand]], who also translated Sarshar's ''Sair-i-Kohsar'' as ''Parvat Yatra''.<ref name="Nagendra1981">{{cite book | author=Nagendra | title=Premchand: an anthology | year=1981 | publisher=Bansal | oclc = 8668427 | page = 70 }}</ref> Satirist [[Sharad Joshi]] also penned a Hindi TV serial ''[[Wah Janaab]]'' based on ''Fasana-e-Azad'' which ran successfully on the state-run television channel [[Doordarshan]] in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8r5QAQAAMAAJ&q=%22wah+janab%22|title=Report|date=1985|language=en}}</ref>

His other novels are ''Sair-i-Kohsar'' and ''Jam-i-Sarshar''. His novel ''Gor-i-Ghariban'' remained unpublished due to his accidental death.<ref name="Sud1977">{{cite journal|last=Sud|first=K. N.|title=Urdu Fiction and Krishan Chandar|journal=[[Indian Literature (journal)|Indian Literature]]|date=July–August 1977|volume=20|issue=4|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|location=Ahmedabad|page=124|jstor=24158701}} {{closed access}}</ref> His novel ''Khuda-e-Foujdar'' is translation of ''Don Quixote''.<ref name="Saksena1990"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Gbooks-author|Ratan Nāth Sarshār}}
* [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00fwp/published/txt_sarshar.html Azad Goes to a Railway Restaurant] by Ratan Nath Dar 'Sarshar' (translated by Frances W. Pritchett)

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarshar, Ratan Nath Dhar}}
[[Category:Kashmiri people]]
[[Category:Kashmiri writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Lucknow]]
[[Category:Date of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:1903 deaths]]
[[Category:Urdu-language novelists]]
[[Category:Urdu-language writers from British India]]
[[Category:Urdu-language translators]]
[[Category:Urdu-language essayists]]
[[Category:Urdu-language poets from India]]
[[Category:Urdu-language humorists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Novelists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian translators]]
[[Category:Indian newspaper editors]]
[[Category:Translators of Don Quixote]]

Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar - Revision history

imported>Serols: Reverted edits by 103.95.81.140 (talk) (HG) (3.4.10)