Mazhar Ali Khan Vila: The Translator of Baital Pachisi
مظہر علی خان ولا
Updated
Mazhar Ali Khan Vila (مظہر علی خان ولا) was a poet from Delhi who worked at Fort William College in Calcutta at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He is remembered for the Urdu Baital Pachisi of 1803, one of the classics of early Urdu prose.
Fort William College
Like Mir Amman, Vila was one of the munshis, writers and language teachers, whom John Gilchrist gathered at Fort William College to produce readable books in everyday Hindustani for the East India Company's officers. Vila was his pen-name as a poet.
For Baital Pachisi he worked with the Hindi writer Lallu Lal, drawing on an earlier Braj Bhasha version of the ancient Sanskrit cycle. He is also credited with Urdu versions of other story books for the college.
Why read him
Vila's prose is quick and conversational, ideal for stories that end in riddles. His Baital Pachisi kept the Indian tale-cycle alive for Urdu readers, alongside the Persian romances like Bagh-o-Bahar. Read Baital Pachisi here, with a facing English translation.
Read it here
Questions and answers
Who wrote Baital Pachisi in Urdu?
Mazhar Ali Khan Vila, at Fort William College, Calcutta, in 1803, working with Lallu Lal.
More guides
- Baital Pachisi: The Twenty-Five Tales of the Vetal Explained · King Vikram, a corpse in a tree, and twenty-five stories that end in riddles.
- Mir Amman Dehlavi: The Author of Bagh-o-Bahar · The Delhi storyteller whose Bagh-o-Bahar became a model of Urdu prose.