P. Lal – Biography

1929 Born at Kapurthala, undivided Punjab, 28 August.
1930 Moves to Calcutta with parents.
1948 Matriculates from St. Xavier’s School.
1951 BA in English from St Xavier’s College.
1953 MA in English from Calcutta University.
Joins St Xavier’s College as English Lecturer.
1955 Marries Shyamasree Devi.
1955 Birth of son Ananda.
1959 Birth of daughter Srimati.
1962-63 Special Professor of Indian Studies at Hofstra University, New York.
1966 Delegate from India to the P.E.N. International Writers Conference
in New York.
1968 Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois.
1970 Recipient of the Padma Shri.
1971 Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature, Hofstra University.
1972-73 Distinguished Visiting Professor, Albion College, Michigan.
1973-74 Robert Norton Visiting Professor, Ohio University.
1975 Visiting Professor of Indian Culture, Hartwick College.
1977 Eli Lilly Visiting Professor, Berea College.
1977 Honorary Doctorate of Letters, Western Maryland College.
1980 Delegate to Adelaide Festival of Arts, Australia.
1988 Delegate to Asian Poets’ Conference, Bangkok.
1989 Delegate to Cambridge Literary Seminar.
1989 Delegate to Harborfront Poetry Reading Series, Toronto, Canada.
1999 Begins a śloka-by-śloka public reading of his transcreated Mahābhārata every Sunday morning for an hour at the Library of Dharma and Culture in Calcutta.
2005 Suniti Kumar Chatterji Lecturer of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.
2006 D. Litt. (Hon. Causa) of Calcutta University for his “transcreation of the Mahabharata”.
2007 Distinguished Professor Award for Lifetime Achievement, St. Xavier’s College.
2010 Passes on at Belle Vue Clinic, Calcutta, 3 November.