Kauromal Chandanmal Kauromal Chandanmal (1845—1916) Dewan Kauromal was the first
major prose-writer, and the first book he wrote was Columbus jee Tarikh
(History of Columbus) in 1862, translated from English. Like Sadhu
Navalrai and Hiranand,he also was influenced by the Bengali
Renaissance, as a result of which he wrote Pako Pahu (Firm Resolution)
in 1852, a learned treatise in favour of female education, which was
greatly responsible for the introduction of that social reform, and the
subsequent emancipation of women in a Muslim Province where the weaker
sex had long been kept behind the purdah under the domination of man.
In 1888, Kauromal translated Ratnawali from the famous play of Harish
Dev, in a style full of Sanskrit words and expressions. The original
description of female beauty and love was faithfully and boldly
translated in Sindhi—that perhaps being the main reason why this
one of the earliest plays in Sindhi literature, is also one of the few
plays that have remained unstaged all these years.
In 1900, the same writer composed Arya Nari Charitra (Lives of Aryan Women) containing biographies of great Indian women, both legendary and historical. From 1885 to 1892, he took great pains in collecting and publishing Sami-ja-Saloke, complete works of the first major Hindu poet, for the first time, in Arabic script. About this time Kauromal also compiled perhaps the first English- Sindhi Dictionary in Arabic script. Kauromal was the first writer to introduce the social novels and short-stories of Bankim Chander Chatterjee to Sindhi readers, some of them being : Ba Mundiyoon (Two Rings)—1914; Indira and Radharani (1916); Chandra Mukhi (or the Ideal Daughter-in-law) and Rohini (from " Krishnakanta's Will "). His translation of some philosophical lectures of Devendranath Tagore was posthumously published under the title Hari Darshan (The Vision of God) in 1930. Kauromal's original style of writing was homely, natural and individual, but later on his indulgence in Sanskritized diction made his writings rather cumbrous. |