[9][page needed] An important event in Harishchandra's life was Bharatendu's journey at the age of 15 to the Jagannath temple with his family in 1865, described by Acharya Ramchandra Shukla.

[10][page needed] According to records, during this trip, he was deeply moved by the Bengal Renaissance and decided to translate social, historical, and Puranic plays and novels into Hindi.

[12][6] Ram Vilas Sharma refers to the "great literary awakening ushered in under Bharatendu's leadership" as the "second story of the edifice of renascent Hindi", the first being the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

[6][11] According to Barbara and Thomas R. Metcalf, Harishchandra was a Hindu traditionalist in North India, promoting the continuity of received tradition and self-conscious participation with the modern world.

[citation needed] Harishchandra insisted on the value of image worship and interpreted Bhakti as devotion to a single god; this was in response to Orientalist and Christian critiques of Hinduism.

His major plays are: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India has given the Bharatendu Harishchandra Awards since 1983 to promote original Hindi mass communication writings.