Nanalal was born on 16 March 1877 in Ahmedabad as the fourth son of Dalpatram, who settled there since 1848 after migrating from Wadhwan.

[5] Among the plays that Nanalal has written, the main ones are Indukumar, Jaya ane Jayant, Shahenshah Akbarshah, Vishvageeta and Jahangir–Noorjahan.

These plays are written in Dolanshaili, a sort of blank verse based on rhythm, employed by the Nanalal himself.

In Sarathi, he discusses contemporary politics and prophesises that India will one day be the charioteer (leader) of the world.

Jhaveri also criticised it for its excessive exaggeration in presentation and the total lack of balance in judging the subject.

[3] He translated several works into Gujarati from Sanskrit including Kālidāsa's Abhijñānaśākuntalam and Meghadūta; Bhagavad Gita, Shikshapatri and 5 Upanishads.