Bharatendu Harishchandra (9 September 18506 January 1885) was an Indian poet, writer and playwright. He authored several dramas, life sketches and travel accounts, using new media such as reports, publications, letters to editors of publications, translations, and literary works to shape public opinion. He has been hailed as a '' Yug Charan'' for his writings depicting the exploitative nature of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. Writing under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

"Rasa", Harishchandra picked themes that demonstrated the agonies of the people. For instance, the country's poverty, dependency, inhuman exploitation, the unrest of the middle class and the urgent need for progression of the country. Referred as a fearless journalist, Harishchandra refuted the prevailing orthodoxy of the time and revealed the machination of the

mahants Mahant () is a religious superior, in particular the chief of a temple or the head of a monastery in Indian religions. James Mallinson, one of the few westerners to be named as a mahant, describes the position of a mahant as a combination of an ...

, pandas and

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particul ...

. He was an influential

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

"traditionalist", using

Vaishnava Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

devotionalism to define a coherent Hindu religion. Bharatendu Harishchandra is often considered the father of

Hindi literature Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃś ...

and

Hindi theatre Hindi theatre is theatre performed in the Hindi language, including dialects such as Braj Bhasha, Khari Boli and Hindustani. Hindi theatre is produced mainly in North India, and some parts of West India and Central India, which include Mumbai an ...

Biography

Born into the

Agrawal Agrawal (anglicised as Agarwal, Agerwal, Agrawala, Agarwala, Agarwalla, Aggarwal, Agarawal, Agarawala) is a Bania community found throughout northern, central and western India, mainly in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Hi ...

caste in

Benaras Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic tra ...

, Harishchandra's father Gopal Chandra was a poet. His ancestors were landlords in Bengal. Even though his parents died when he was young, they seemed to have left an influence on him. Acharya Ramchandra Shukla has described Bharatendu's journey to the

Jagannath temple The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu - one of the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. The present temple was rebuilt f ...

in Puri, Orissa with his family in 1865, at the young age of 15. During this trip he was deeply moved by the Bengal Renaissance and decided to bring the genres of social, historical, and

Puranic Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

plays and novels into Hindi. This influence reflected in his Hindi translation of the Bengali drama '' Vidyasundar,'' three years later, in 1868. Harishchandra edited the magazines ''Kavi Vachan Sudha'', ''Harishchandra Magazine'', ''Harishchandra Patrika'' and ''Bal Vodhini.'' He wrote under the pseudonym Girdhar Das. He was titled "Bharatendu" ("The moon of India") at a public meeting by scholars of Kashi in 1880 in recognition of his services as a writer, patron, and moderniser.

Ram Vilas Sharma Ram Vilas Sharma (10 October 1912 – 30 May 2000) was a progressive literary critic, linguist, poet and thinker. He was born in Unchgaon Sani, Unnao District, Uttar Pradesh. In a career spanning nearly five decades, Sharma authored over 50 boo ...

refers to the "great literary awakening ushered in under Bharatendu's leadership" as the "second storey of the edifice of renascent Hindi", the first being the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the for ...

.Awadesh Pradhan, ''The Spiritual and Cultural Ethos of Modern Hindi Literature'', Prabuddha Bharata, July 2009. He was married and had one daughter.

Hindu traditionalism

According to Barbara and

Thomas R. Metcalf Thomas R. Metcalf (born May 31, 1934) is a historian of South Asia, especially colonial India, and of the British Empire. Metcalf is the Emeritus Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies and Professor of History at the University of California, B ...

, Bharatendu Harishchandra was a powerful Hindu "traditionalist" in North India, promoting the continuity of received tradition and self-conscious participation with the modern world. He rejected the authority of those engaged with Western learning and institutions over Hindu religious matters and recommended they be left to traditionally educated Hindu Brahmans. He used new media, especially publications to shape public opinion. In doing so, he contributed to the development of modern forms of the Hindi language. He used

devotionalism to define a coherent

religion, using the Kashi Dharma Sabha as his institutional base, started in the 1860s by the Maharaja of Benares as a response to more radical Hindu reformist movements. Harishchandra insisted on the value of image worship and interpreted

Bhakti ''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...

as devotion to a single god; this was in response to Orientalist and Christian critiques of Hinduism. Although Urdu was used as the lingua franca across North India since the 18th Century, Harishchandra espoused the cause of reviving Hindi as part of his cultural and nationalist activities. He "combined pleas for heuse of

Swadeshi The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...

articles with demands for replacement of Urdu by Hindi in courts and a ban on cow slaughter". He continued his campaign for a legal ban on cow slaughter on behalf of Maharaja of Benares, taking it to the

Delhi Durbar The Delhi Durbar ( lit. " Court of Delhi") was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by the British at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it w ...

. His petition on the same, according to Sahay ( 9051975: 84), had 60,000 signatories and was submitted to Lord Lytton. Even though no action was taken on the ban, he was given the title "Vir Vaishnava".

Major works

Plays

Bharatendu Harishchandra soon became a director, manager, and playwright. He used theatre as a tool to shape public opinion. His major plays are: * '' Vaidika Himsa Na Bhavati'', 1873 (वैदिक हिंसा हिंसा न भवति) * ''Satya Harishchandra'', 1876 (सत्य हरिश्चन्द्र) * '' Bharat Durdasha'', 1875 * ''Niladevi'', 1881 (नीलदेवी) * '' Andher Nagari'' (अन्धेर नगरी, City of Darkness), 1881: A popular play of modern Hindi drama and a political satire. Translated and performed in many Indian languages by prominent Indian directors like B. V. Karanth, Prasanna,

Arvind Gaur Arvind Gaur is an Indian theatre director known for innovative, socially and politically relevant plays in India. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social political ...

and Sanjay Upadhyaya.

Poetry

* Bhakta Sarvagya (भक्त सर्वज्ञ) * Prem Malika (प्रेम मालिका), 1872 * Prem Madhuri (प्रेम माधुरी), 1875 * Prem Tarang (प्रेम तरंग),1877 * Prem Prakalpa (प्रेम प्रकल्प), Prem Phulwari (प्रेम फुलवारी) and Prem Sarowar (प्रेम सरोवर), 1883 * Holi (होली), (1874) * Madhumukul (मधुमुकुल), 1881 * Raga Sangrah (राग संग्रह), 1880 * Varsha Vinod (वर्षा विनोद), 1880 * Vinay Prem Pachasa (विनय प्रेम पचासा), 1881 * Phulon Ka Guchchha (फूलों का गुच्छा), 1882 * Chandravali (चन्द्रावली), 1876 and Krishnacharitra (कृष्णचरित्र), 1883 * Uttarardha Bhaktamal (उत्तरार्द्ध भक्तमाल), 1876–77 निज भाषा उन्नति अहै, सब उन्नति को मूल ।
बिन निज भाषा-ज्ञान के, मिटत न हिय को सूल ।। विविध कला शिक्षा अमित, ज्ञान अनेक प्रकार।
सब देसन से लै करहू, भाषा माहि प्रचार ।। Translation:
Progress is made in one's own language (the mother tongue), as it the foundation of all progress.
Without the knowledge of the mother tongue, there is no cure for the pain of heart. Many arts and education infinite, knowledge of various kinds.
Should be taken from all countries, but be propagated in one's mother tongue.

Translations

Harsha Harshavardhana (IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajyava ...

Ratnavali ''Ratnavali'' (Precious Garland) is a Sanskrit drama about a beautiful princess named Ratnavali, and a great king named Udayana. It is attributed to the Indian emperor Harsha (606–648). It is a Natika in four acts. One of the first textual ...

(रत्नावली) *

Vishakhadatta Vishakhadatta ( sa, विशाखदत्त) was an Indian Sanskrit poet and playwright. Although Vishakhadatta furnishes the names of his father and grandfather as ''Maharaja'' Bhaskaradatta and ''Maharaja'' Vateshvaradatta in his political ...

Mudrarakshasa The Mudrarakshasa (मुद्राराक्षस, IAST: ''Mudrārākṣasa'', ) is a Sanskrit-language play by Vishakhadatta that narrates the ascent of the king Chandragupta Maurya ( BCE) to power in India. The play is an example of c ...

(मुद्राराक्षस) *

Ramprasad Sen ( bn, রামপ্রসাদ সেন; c. 1718 or c. 1723 – c. 1775) was a Hindu Shakta poet and saint of eighteenth century Bengal. His ''bhakti'' poems, known as Ramprasadi, are still popular in Bengal—they are usually ad ...

's Vidyasundar (विद्यासुन्दर) from Bengali * Karpuramanjari (कर्पूरमञ्जरी) from Prakrit *

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as a ...

'' as Durlabh Bandhu (दुर्लभ बन्धु) ''Invaluable Friend''

Essay collection

* Bharatendu Granthavali (भारतेन्दु ग्रन्थावली), 1885

Bharatendu Harishchandra Awards

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India gives the

Bharatendu Harishchandra Awards The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India confers Bharatendu Harishchandra Awards to encourage original and creative writing in Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is ...

since 1983 to promote original writings in Hindi

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

References

External links

* * *
Bharatendu Harishchandra
at Kavita Kosh (Hindi)
Plays of Bharatendu Harishchandra
at Gadya Kosh
Poetry by Bharatendu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harishchandra, Bharatendu 1850 births 1885 deaths Writers from Varanasi Hindi dramatists and playwrights Hindi journalists Hindi-language poets Hindi theatre Indian magazine editors Indian male novelists Indian male stage actors Indian theatre directors Indian male journalists Poets from Uttar Pradesh 19th-century Indian journalists 19th-century Indian poets 19th-century Indian novelists 19th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Indian male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Indian male actors Indian male poets 19th-century Indian male writers Journalists from Uttar Pradesh Dramatists and playwrights from Uttar Pradesh