GIRDHAR LĀL or Girdhārī LāI, a poet in Gurū Gobind Siṅgh's retinue at Pāoṇṭā, was the author of Piṅgal Sār, a treatise in verse on Hindi prosody. According to its autobiographical stanzas 7-16, Girdhar Lāl was the son of Gaj Mall, a Khatrī of Gaḍiyal clan. The family came originally from Multān but after a stay at Saḍhaurā, now in Yamunānagar district of Haryāṇā, had settled at Lahore. From there Dvārkā Dās, great-great-grandfather of Girdhar LāI, had shifted to Āgrā at the instance of Muzaffar Khān, an Afghān noble. Girdhar Lāl received education in Braj literature and prosody at the hands of a Brāhmaṇ scholar, Hriday Rām. He had commenced writing Piṅgal Sār at Āgrā, but completed it at Pāoṇṭā in Magghar 1745 Bk/November 1688. The manuscript is preserved in the Languages Department Library at Paṭiālā (MS. No. 129).