Born on June 29, 1861, in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar, Devkinandan Khatri was the first writer in Indian literature to publish tilismanic novels-- stories that portrayed a world filled with magic and illusions, where fantastical things happened. At the age of 26, Khatri shot to fame with Chandrakanta, his first tilismanic novel. It became immensely popular at the time of its publication, so much so that many Urdu-speaking people began to learn Hindi just so they could read this book. Leaving a treasure trove of entertaining Hindi novels for his readers, Devakinandan Khatri breathed his last on August 1, 1913.
