One of the most popular Hindi novels which is, originally entitled Chandrakanta in Hindi, it became a trend—setter in suspense writing. It was with this book that magical happenings and words like aiyari (spying), lakhalakha (smelling salts) came to be used in Hindi language. And the originator of such a great classical novel was Babu Devakinandan Khatri who acquired fame all over India with this magical creation. It goes without saying that before Munshi Premchand (one of the greatest Hindi writers of social novels) came on the Hindi literary scene, it was Devakinandan Khatri’s first creative book Chandrakanta which became the corner-stone of this genre. This was the sole work in Hindi language which encouraged people to read novels, so much so that innumerable illiterates and readers of Urdu language took to learning Hindi. It would be no exaggeration to say that during that period (and till much later on), the magic of Chandrakanta continued to weave its spell to such an extent that instead of describing a novel as ‘novel’, people began to refer to a novel as Chandrakanta, particularly due to the style of presentation of text.
Chandrakanta, first published in the early twentieth century; can primarily and essentially be called a love story. Divided into four parts, one reads about magical happenings and of aiyari which will thrill the readers. ‘Aiyar’ is an Arabic word, meaning ‘stubborn’ or a man who performs unusual tricks by changing his appearance. An aiyar is one who is Jack of all trades, is adept in changing his face and appearance and is a very agile and fast runner. The author has described aiyars as those servants in royal courts who can do anything like alter their face, have knowledge of many indigenous drugs, know singing and all kinds of performing arts, can run fast, can (wield weapons, do spying and what not. In olden times, when kings were engaged in battles, it was the aiyar who with his smartness and guile could bring the battle to an end without any loss of blood or life. Hence, the aiyars were held in high regard. Till Devakinandan Khatri used the word in his novel, aiyars did not find any mention in Hindi literature now a word or two about the author Devakinandan Khatri, who was born in Muzaffarpur (Bihar) inl86l and died in August 1913. He wrote other novels like Angoori, Kajar ki Kothri, Bhootnath, etc., but none of his writings could reach such dizzying heights of fame as Chandrakanta.
Encouraged by its popularity and craze, Star Publications feels proud to bring out Chandrakanta’s English translation entitled in the Mysterious Ruins. This is just a beginning and if this effort finds acceptance with the reading public, many more classics of the erst- while era will follow to adorn the shelves of bookshops and booklovers. Back of the Book
This classical novel was originally published in Hindu under the title ‘Chandrakanta’ about 60 years ago.
The novel still continues to be one of the best seller in Hindi, and has been published in several other languages of India. Millions of copies of Hindi editions have been sold till date.
So much popularity of this novel was one of the reasons that prompted us to bring out the English version. It is the story of princess Chandrakanta who unknowingly lands in the mysterious ruins near her father’s kingdom, where strange and unusual happenings take place. In order to save her, prince Veerndra Singh, accompanied by his ‘aiyar’ (spies) reaches the cavern where the princess is held in captivity. He overcomes all kinds of obstacles and owner of a vast treasure trove in the process.
It is a captivating story of court intrigue, mysterious events, ingenuity and bravery, and readers would like to read the novel again.
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