Gerasim Lebedev

Gerasim Stepanovich Lebedev (; 1749 – July 27, 1817), also spelled Herasim Steppanovich Lebedeff , was a Russian adventurer, linguist, pioneer of Bengali theatre (founded European-style proscenium drama theatre in India in 1795), translator, musician and writer. He was a pioneer of Indology.

Early life Lebedev was born in Yaroslavl, Russia, to a family of a church choirmaster. Gerasim was the oldest son in the family. He had two brothers: Afanasy and Trefil and sister Antonida. He fled the entourage and travelled across Europe, earning his livelihood as a violinist. He soon joined an English military band that was being sent to India. Lebedev arrived at Madras (now Chennai), a port in southern India in August 1785.

In Calcutta

Lebedev lived in Calcutta (now Kolkata), then the capital of British India, for about ten years. During his stay, he started to learn Hindi, Sanskrit and Bengali from a local schoolteacher named Golokhnath Das. In exchange, Lebedev had to teach Das violin and European music.

With assistance from local intellectuals, Lebedev founded the first European-style proscenium drama theatre in India.

The theatre Lebedev established at Domtala (Ezra Street) used for the first time Bengali actors and actresses. The show held on 27 November 1795 is considered the first performance of the modern Indian theatre. At that time there were two theatre halls for the English in Calcutta. Lebedev was so successful that it aroused envy in Englishmen and two of them burnt down his theatre. Lebedev's attempt was somewhat premature, but it proved that a nucleus of clients ready to pay for public performances had already been formed in the city.

He compiled a small Bengali dictionary, wrote a book on arithmetic in Bengali and translated part of Annadamangal into Russian.

On his return to Russia, he was employed by the Foreign Ministry. He established in St. Petersburg a printing house equipped with Devanāgarī and Bengali scripts, the first of its kind in Europe. He published his second book Unbiased observations on Brahmin customs (“Беспристрастное созерцание брагменских обычаев...”), and prepared two other books but could not finish those due to illness. Lebedev died in his printing house on 15 July (O.S.; 27 July [N.S.]) 1817 and was interred in the Gergiev Cemetery of Bolshaya Okhta in Saint Petersburg.

Works A Grammar of the Pure and Mixed East Indian Dialects (London, 1801), or, A grammar of the pure and mixed East Indian dialects,: With dialogues affixed ... arranged ... according to the Brahmenian system, of the Shamscrit language ... Jones, respecting the Shamscrit alphabet An Impartial Contemplation of the East Indian Systems of Brahmins (St Petersburg, 1805) or An Impartial Review of the East Indian Brahminical System of Sacred Rites and Customs A Collection of Hindustani and Bengali Arias