Kuber Nath Rai (26 March 1933 – 5 June 1996), also written as Kubernath Ray and Kuber Nath Ray, was a writer and scholar 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 Apabhraṃ� ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Early life

Kuber Nath Rai was born in

Bhumihar Bhumihars, also called Babhan, are a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal. The Bhumihars claim Brahmin statu ...

family in Matsa village of Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh, India. His father's name was Vakunth Narayan Rai. He got his early education at village Matsa. However he did his matriculation from Queen's College, Varanasi. For higher studies he got enrolled in

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

(BHU). He did his master's in English Literature from

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

. As an academician he started his career with Vikram Vishvavidyalaya but after a short period he moved to Nalbari, Assam as a lecturer of English literature. He got retired from Swami Sahajanand Mahavidyalaya as its principal.

Career

Teaching career

From 1958 to 1986 he was in

Nalbari Nalbari (Pron: nɔ:lˈbɑ:rɪ) is a town and a municipal board in Nalbari district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. Nalbari town is also the headquarters of Nalbari district, Nalbari District. The town is one of ma ...

College,

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

as a lecturer in English Department. From 1986 to 1995 he was in Swami Sahajanand Saraswati PG College, Ghazipur, UP as a Principal. He got the

Moortidevi Award The Moortidevi Award is an Indian literary award annually presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a literary and research organisation. The award is given only to Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Con ...

from

Bharatiya Jnanpith Bharatiya Jnanpith a literary and research organization, based in New Delhi, India, was founded on February 18, 1944Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 1, p. 298 1987, Sahitya Akademi, by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family and ...

and many awards from UP, WB and

Government.

Writing career

Kuber Nath Rai dedicated his writing entirely to the form of the essay. His collections of essays ''Gandha Madan'', ''Priya neel-kanti'', ''Ras Aakhetak'', ''Vishad Yog'', ''Nishad Bansuri'', ''Parna mukut'' have enormously enriched the form of essay. A scholar of

Indian culture Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term al ...

and

western literature Western literature, also known as European literature, is the literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque and Hungarian, an ...

, he was proud of Indian heritage. His love for natural beauty and Indian folk literatures and preference for agricultural society over the age of machines, his romantic outlook, aesthetic sensibility, his keen eye on contemporary reality and classical style place him very high among contemporary essayists in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Main works

* ''Andhkaar Mein Agnishikha'', Prabhat Prakashan, . * ''Priya Neelkanthi'',

, 1969. * ''Ras Aakhetak'',

, 1971. * ''Gandhmaadan'',

, 1972. * ''Nishad Bansuri'', 1973. * ''Vishad Yoga'', National Publishing Hause (Delhi), 1974. * ''Parn mukut'', Lok Bhāratī Prakāśana (Allāhābād), 1978. * ''Mahakavi ki Tarjani'', National Publiśiṅg Hāuse (Delhi), 1979 * ''Patr:Maniputul ke naam'', Viśvavidyālaya Prakāśana (Vārāṇasī), (1980) reprint 2004. * ''Manpawan ki Nauka'', Prabhāt Prakāśana (Delhi), 1983. * ''Kirat nadi mein Chandramadhu'', Viśvavidyālaya Prakāśana (Vārāṇasi), 1983. * ''Dristi Abhisaar'', National Publiśhiṅg Hāuse (New Delhi), 1984 * ''Treta ka vrihatsaam'', National Publiśhiṅg Hāuse (New Delhi), 1986. * ''Kaamdhenu'', Rājapal& Sons (Delhi), 1990. * ''Maraal'',

, 1993. * ''Agam ki Nav'' * ''Vani ka kshirsagar'' * ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

Mahateertham'',

(New Delhi), 2002 * ''Kanthamani'' (Kavya Sangrah), Viśvavidyālaya Prakāśana, (Vārāṇasī), 1998 * ''Uttarkuru'', 1993. * ''Cinmaya Bhārata: ārsha-cintana ke buniyādī sūtra'', Hindustānī Academy, (Allahabad), 1996

Anthologies of essays

* ''Kuberanātha Rāya ke pratinidhi nibandha'', Sāhitya Bhavana (Allahabad), 1991 * Kuber Nath Rai Sanchayan,

Sahitya Academy The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

References

Works on Rai

* Rajiv Ranjan, 'Bhartiyata Ki Sankalpana Aur Kuber Nath Rai' (2009) Dept. Of Lit. Mahatma Gandhi Anatrrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya,

Wardha Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south bounda ...

Maharashtra *Kuber Nath Rai: Parichay Aur Pahchan, Rajiv Ranjan,2014, Ashish Prakashan Kanpur, * DR. Ajay RAI, "Lalit Nibandh Parampara Aur Kubre Nath Rai
V.B.S Purvanchal University
Jaunpur, U.P. * Sankar Chandak, ''Kuber Nath Rai Ke Nibandhan Ka Swaroop Aur Shilpa Vidhan''
V.B.S Purvanchal University
Jaunpur, U.P., 2001. * Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, Bhartiya Sahitya ke Nirmata, Kubernath Rai,

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

, New Delhi (2007) * Aman Mohindra;Kubernath Rai ke Lalit Nibandhon Ka Saanskritik Vishleshan,

Punjabi University Punjabi University is a collegiate state public university located in Patiala, Punjab, India. It was established on 30 April 1962 and is only the second university in the world to be named after a language, after Hebrew University of Israel. ...

, Patiala.2003 * Suresh Maheshwari, ''Lalit Nibandhakar Kuberanath Ray: Vyaktitva-Krtitva Ki Lalit Alocana'', Bhavana Prakasana; 1st edition (1999),

External links

* Odisha Public Service Commission https://web.archive.org/web/20090619073729/http://opsc.nic.in/ocs-main.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Rai 1933 births 1996 deaths Hindi-language writers Indian male essayists People from Ghazipur Writers from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian essayists Recipients of the Moortidevi Award