Acharya In Indian religions and society, an ''acharya'' (Sanskrit: आचार्य, IAST: ; Pali: ''ācariya'') is a preceptor and expert instructor in matters such as religion, or any other subject. An acharya is a highly learned person with a tit ...

Ramlochan Saran (11 February 1889,

Muzaffarpur Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Tirhut region of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth m ...

–14 May 1971,

Darbhanga Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Bihar situated centrally in Mithila region. Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erstw ...

) was a

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

littérateur, grammarian and publisher. He founded Pustak Bhandar, a publishing enterprise, in

Laheriasarai Laheriasarai is a city in North Bihar and considered as ''twin-city'' of Darbhanga. It has had a long cultural history. It has long been an integral part of Mithila and has a religious significance for many Hindus. Hindi, Maithili, and Urdu ...

in 1915 and moved his publishing office to

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

in 1929. He also founded a number of magazines: ''Balak Magazine'' (1926–1986), ''Himalaya'' (1946–1948) and ''Honhar'' (Hindi and Urdu) (1939).

Educational work

His Hindi primer ''Manohar Balapothi'' attempted to teach the

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...

alphabet to beginners. He also published ''Some Eminent Behar Contemporaries'' by

Sachchidananda Sinha Sachchidananda Sinha (10 November 1871 – 6 March 1950) was an Indian lawyer, parliamentarian, and journalist. Early life Sinha was born on 10 November 1871 in Arrah, in Bengal Presidency (in present-day Bihar) into a well-to-do Srivastava Kay ...

,Sachchidananda Sinha
''Some Eminent Behar Contemporaries''
1944, 218 pages. books by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, and other Gandhian literature in both

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. He published ''Tolstoy and Gandhi'' by Dr.

Kalidas Nag Kalidas Nag ( bn, Kalidas Nag; 16 January 1892 – 9 November 1966) was an Indian historian, writer and parliamentarian. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1952 and served till 1954. Early years Kalidas was born to Babu Matilal Nag. He ma ...

in EnglishKalidas Nag
''Tolstoy and Gandhi'' ("In Gandhi's foot-steps" series)
1950, 135 pages and produced a

Maithili language Maithili () is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of Languages of India, India and Languages of Nepal, Nepal. It is native to the Mithila region, which encompasses parts of the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as Nepal's easte ...

version of the books of

Tulsidas Tulsidas (; born Rambola Dubey; also known as Goswami Tulsidas; c.1511pp. 23–34.–1623) was a Ramanandi Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, but ...

. Having edited and published ''Sidhant Bhasya'', a four-volume commentary on Tulsidas's medieval retelling of the

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

, the

Ramacharitamanasa ''Ramcharitmanas'' ( deva, श्रीरामचरितमानस, Rāmacaritamānasa), is an epic poem in the Awadhi language, based on the ''Ramayana'', and composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas (c. 1532–1623). This ...

, he was first to start printing Maithili books in Maithili script ( Mithilakshar). Through his publishing efforts he encouraged many other Hindi and Maithili littérateurs like Ramavriksha Benipuri, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Acharya Shivpujan Sahay, and Pt. Harimohan Jha. He guided Upendra Maharthi the artist to develop his talents through work under him for over a decade.

Golden jubilee

The golden jubilee celebration was the occasion of Ramlochan's fifty years of successful publishing and literary and cultural contribution, a service to humankind. The celebration brought an appreciation from Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Indian leader. He sent a message: "Brother Ram Lochan. I appreciate your work. Keep on with such service. Blessing of Bapu."

Achievement

Laheriasarai became a hub of publishing because of Ram Lochan Ji. His company was employing five hundred locals. They were trained by him in editing, production and marketing operations for the best planned effort in South Asia including "Balak" magazine and innumerable valuable creative projects. He was a catalyst to channel the energy released by the nationalist creative talents for freedom in the country, through transformation into literature, informative inspiring books for the masses: 100 essential books for rural libraries: the Almanac, inspiring books on Indian civilization, efforts of think tank for renaissance in India, were mass-produced. Ramlochan was regularly playing host to saints, artists, poets, philosophers, social workers, educationalists, policy planners, and bureaucrats of the region. The Raja and the princes of

Darbhanga Raj The Darbhanga Raj, also known as Raj Darbhanga and the Khandwala dynasty, was a Maithil Brahmins dynasty and the rulers of territories, not all contiguous, that were part of the Mithila region, now divided between India and Nepal. The rulers ...

publicly honoured his contribution in the city and the development of the intelligentsia's creative artists, writer poets, and spirituals.

Death

Ramlochan died in Darbhanga on 11 February 1971. On his death the President of India

V. V. Giri Varahagiri Venkata Giri (; 10 August 1894 — 24 June 1980) was an Indian politician and activist from Berhampur in Odisha who served as the 4th president of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974. He also 3rd vice president of India from ...

mentioned that Acharyaji's service to children's literature will always be remembered as it will always inspire the coming generations. The noted English-language daily '' Indian Nation'' wrote in its editorial, "Had Ramlochan Saran not been born in Bihar the progress of Hindi Literature would have been delayed by a decade or two."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saran, Ramlochan Maithili poets Hindi-language writers Indian book publishers (people) Writers of Mithila 1889 births 1971 deaths People from Sitamarhi district Linguists of Hindi 20th-century Indian writers Businesspeople from Bihar 20th-century Indian male writers