Raja Deen Dayal was born in 1844 at Sardhana near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh in a Jain family. He studied engineering at Thompson Civil Engineering College, Roorkee after which he joined the public works department Indore as a head estimator and draftsman.

Maharaja of Indore, Tukoji II after seeing his work encouraged him to set up his studio at Indore. Deen Dayal then obtained the patronage of the Governor General of India in 1874. He accompanied Sir Lepel Griffin on his Central India tour during which he photographed Gwalior, Khajuraho, and other Central India sites.

He was honoured in 1885 by Lord Dufferin and appointed as official photographer to the Viceroy. He had the unique honour of being appointed as photographer to Queen Victoria in 1887.

The Nizam VI of Hyderabad, Mahboob Ali Pasha visited his studio and invited him to Hyderabad. Deen Dayal then shifted to Hyderabad and photographed the Nizam during his hunting expeditions, wedding ceremonies, visits by foreigners, and other royal families.

The Nizam conferred the title of “Musavvir-i-Asaf Jahi’” and “Raja Bahadur Musavir Jung” on him.

Being amazed by the photographic skill of Deen Dayal, nizam wrote a verse in honour of him:

Ajab yeh karte hain tasveer mein kamal,

Ustadon ke hain ustad Lala Deen Dayal (In the art of picture making skilled surpassing all-A master of master’s is Lala Deen Dayal)

He won many awards in exhibitions in India and abroad, notable the World Colombian Commission in 1893 in USA. In 1896 he expanded his business and opened his studio at Bombay which was patronized by both Indian and the British.

Raja Deen Dayal had three sons Gyan Chand, Dharam Chand and Dhyanchand. Gyan Chand and Dharam Chand had largely assisted him in his studio. The death of his son Dhyanachand in 1896 followed by Dharam Chand in 1904, and his wife a year later shattered him and he too passed away at the age of 61 years, on 5th July 1905.