Dr. Hiralal was born in Katni on 1st October 1867. Graduating in science from Government College, Jabalpur in 1888, he served with the Government in various capacities. He worked as a teacher, a science instructor, Inspector of Schools, Famine Relief Officer, Extra Assistant Commissioner, assisting in census work, deputed on special duty at a number of places like Raipur, Sangor, Balaghat, Nagpur,  Jabalpur and  Chhatisgarh.

In 1910, he completed the work on the District Gazetteers of Madhya Pradesh in Hindi, the  forerunner  of  several attempts  in  other provinces. In recognition of his work, the Government conferred on him the title of 'Rai Bahadur'.

His remarkable research work in the History and Archaeology of the Central Provinces was published in 1914 as "Inscriptions". His voluminous reference work, "The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India,"  (in collaboration with Russell)  is acclaimed in India and abroad.

He made a linguistic survey of the Central Provinces making gramophone recordings of aboriginal dialects at the instance of Sir George A. Grierson. He was a well-known Hindi writer, noted for the purity of his language and chaste style.

In 1922 he was made permanent  Deputy Commissioner at Narsinghpur. He retired the same year and settled at Katni, where he compiled a "Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts in the Central Provinces" bringing to light over 8,000 manuscripts.

Dr. Hiralal was associated with Nagpur University from its inception. He was chiefly instrumental in starting a "Hindi Sahitya Parishad" and getting Hindi recognised for graduate and postgraduate courses. He declined the Vice Chancellorship of the University preferring to stay on in Katni. In 1933 the University conferred  on him  the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature, appreciating his work  for  the  cause  of  education.

He was elected President of the Sixth All India Oriental Conference held at Patna in 1932 and represented India at the Archaeological Conference, London, in 1933. He  was also President of the "Nagari  Pracharini Sabha." He presided  over  the ethnographical section of the Science Congress held at Nagpur and  Madras.

A distinguished historian, he contributed numerous articles to "Indian Antiquary", "Epigraphia Indica", The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society etc. and was an honorary correspondent in Archaeology to the Government of India. Dr Hiralal passed away on 19th August, 1934.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India