Born on June 29, 1861, in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar, Devakinandan 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. It was adapted for a television series of the same name, telecast in Doordarshan and other channels. Apart from Chandrakanta, Khatri wrote many other works that were phenomenal successes, such as Chandrakanta Santati, Bhootnath, Kusum Kumari, Katora Bhar Khoon, and many more. Leaving a treasure trove of entertaining Hindi novels for his readers, Devakinandan Khatri breathed his last on August 1, 1913.