Alaler Gharer Dulal (English: The Spoilt Child আলালের ঘরের দুলাল; published in 1857) is a Bengali novel by Peary Chand Mitra (1814–1883). The writer used the pseudonym Tekchand Thakur for this novel.
The novel describes the society of the nineteenth-century Calcutta with a focus on the lifestyle of its intemperate and prodigal protagonist, Matilal.
The book was one of the earliest Bengali novels.Hana Catherine Mullens wrote Phoolmani O Karunar Bibaran in 1852. This is regarded as the first novel in Bengali; Alaler Gharer Dulal was published in 1858, as per Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan page 423. Harinath Mazumdar wrote a novel Bijay Basanta at the same time as per Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj, page 88. It was also the first piece of Bengali literature to use Cholitobhasa, the colloquial form of the Bengali language. The simple prose style it introduced came to be known as "Alali-style". The novel was first published serially in a monthly magazine, Masik Patrika. Later, a dramatised version was staged at the Bengal Theatre (January 1875).
The second edition (published in 1870) was illustrated by Girindra Kumar Dutta.
References
External links Bhattacharya, Ramkrishna, Alal in Translation Alaler Gharer Dulal, Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: A-Devo (1987) ed. Amaresh Datta, p. 126 Project Gutenberg eBook on 'The Spoilt Child' https://archive.org/details/TheSpoiltChild