Girija Kumar Mathur (

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 ...

: गिरिजाकुमार माथुर) (22 August 1919 – 10 January 1994) was a notable Indian writer of the

Hindi language 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 ...

. He is noted for his translation of the popular English song "

We Shall Overcome "We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the American civil rights movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert ...

" into Hindi (हम होगें कामयाब). His father, Devicharan Mathur, was a teacher in a local school and greatly admired music as well as literature. His mother's name was Laxmidevi. Girijakumar Mathur is considered one of the most important writers in Hindi due to his efforts to modernise

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 promote it through many of his works.

Early life

Girijakumar Mathur was born in Ashoknagar which was tehsil of guna before 2003

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second ...

, on 22 August 1919. He was homeschooled by his father in History, Geography and English. After obtaining his primary education in

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative head ...

, he was awarded a degree of M.A (English) and L.L.B from Lucknow University. After practicing law for a few years, he started working in

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

and later

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...

Professional and musical career

On obtaining his law degree, Mathur initially worked as a lawyer, but subsequently joined the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

office of

. After a few years there, he moved on to join the then only television broadcasting organization of India,

. Mathur published his first collection of poems, ''Manjir'' in 1941. It was during his service in Doordarshan that mathur translated the popular

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

and

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

song "

We shall overcome "We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the American civil rights movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert ...

" into

as "Ham Honge Kaamyab" (हम होंगे कामयाब). It was sung by a female singer of the Doordarshan orchestra and the music was arranged by Satish Bhatia using Indian musical instruments. This version of the song was subsequently released by TVS Saregama. This Hindi rendition was released in 1970 as a song of social upliftment and was often broadcast by Doordarshan in the 1970s and 1980s. Doordarshan at that time was the only television station of India, and this song was especially played on days of national significance. Mathur continued to work in Doordarshan, retiring in 1978 as the Deputy Director general.

Works

Girijakumar Mathur started his career in literature in 1934 in the Braj language.Greatly influenced by authors such as Makhanlal Chaturvedi and Balkrishna Sharma 'Navin', he published his first anthology, 'Manjir' in 1941. He was an important contributor to Hindi literature and used his works to spread moral messages through society. His notable works include: *Nash aur Nirman *Dhup ke Dhan *Sheilapankh Chamkile *Bhitri Nadi Ki Yatra (Anthology) *Janm Kaid (Play) *Nayi Kavita:Seemae aur Sambhavnae Girijakumar Mathur was one of the seven eminent Hindi poets included in ''

Tar Saptak ''Tar Saptak'' or ''Taar Saptak'' (; ) is an anthology of Hindi language poems written by seven poets, published in 1943. Compiled by Sachchidananda Vatsyayan (under his penname 'Agyeya'), it contain poems of Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh, Nemi Chand ...

'', an anthology edited and published by Agyeya in 1943. Apart from poems, he wrote many plays, songs as well as essays. In 1991, he was awarded the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

for his anthology, "Main Vakt ke Hun Samne" as well as the

Vyas Samman The Vyas Samman is a literary award in India, first awarded in 1991. It is awarded annually by the K.K. Birla Foundation and includes a cash payout of Rs 4,00,000 (as of 2019). To be eligible for the award, the literary work must be in the Hi ...

in the same year. He is noted for his translation of the popular English song "

" into Hindi. Mathur described his life's journey in his autobiograph
Mujhe aur abhi kehna hai (मुझे और अभी कहना है)
(''I still have to say something'').

Death

Girijakumar Mathur died on 10 January 1994, aged 75 in New Delhi.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathur, Girija Kumar Indian male poets Hindi-language writers 1919 births 1994 deaths 20th-century Indian poets Poets from Madhya Pradesh 20th-century Indian male writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Hindi