He is known for his poetic autobiography – Ardhakathānaka, (The Half Story),[1] composed in Braj Bhasa, an early dialect of Hindi linked with the region around Mathura.
Banarasidas appears to have been a better poet than a businessman; at one stage he relates how after incurring several business losses, his wife gave him twenty rupees that she had saved up.
Despite the long life expectancy inherent in the title of his work Ardhakathānaka, Banarasidas died two years after writing it, in 1643.
[2] Banarasidas is known for his works, Moha Vivek Yuddha, Banārasi Nāmamāla (1613) Banārasivilāsa (1644), Samayasāra Nātaka (1636) and Ardhakathanaka (1641) in Braj Bhasa.
[12] The Ardhakathānaka is his autobiography which describes his transition from an unruly youth, to a religious realization by the time the work was composed.
[2] The work is notable for many details of life in Mughal times - Banarasidas lived during the reign of Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan.
[14] The following stanzas describe the effect of Akbar's sudden death in 1605 – the uncertainty of succession induced widespread fear among the wealthier classes:
Rohini Chowdhury's Hindi translation of Banarasidas' Ardhakathanaka has been published by Penguin Books India, 2007.