Lal Behari Day

Born in Bengal in 1824, Lal Behari Day was educated in Calcutta at Alexander Duff’s General Assembly Institution. He later converted to Christianity and became a missionary, while also building a career as a journalist and man of letters.

He is especially remembered for writing about Bengali rural life in English at a time when very few Indian authors were doing so for a wide readership. Bengal Peasant Life—first published as Govinda Samanta—offered a vivid picture of village society and the hardships faced by cultivators under the zamindari system.

Day also helped preserve oral tradition through Folk-Tales of Bengal, a collection that brought long-circulating Bengali stories to new readers. His work stands out for the way it connects literature, social observation, and folklore, making him an important early voice in Indian writing in English.