Maithili Sharan Gupt (3 August 1886 – 12 December 1964) was one of the most important modern

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 ...

poets. He is considered one among the pioneers of ''

Khari Boli Kauravi ( hi, कौरवी, ur, ), also known as Khaṛībolī is a set of Western Hindi varieties of Shauraseni Prakrit mainly spoken in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh. Standard Hindi and Urdu are based on Khariboli, specifically on its De ...

'' (plain dialect) poetry and wrote in

dialect, at a time when most Hindi poets favoured the use of

Braj Bhasha The Braj language, ''Braj Bhasha'', also known as Vraj Bhasha or Vrij Bhasha or Braj Bhāṣā or Braji or Brij Bhasha or Braj Boli, is a Western Hindi language. Along with Awadhi (a variety of Eastern Hindi), it was one of the two predominant ...

dialect. He was a recipient of the third highest (then second highest) Indian civilian honour of

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

. For his book Bharat-Bharati (1912), widely quoted during India's freedom struggle, he was given the title of Rashtra Kavi by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Early life

He was born in

Chirgaon Chirgaon is a town and a municipal board in Jhansi district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Chirgaon is located 30 km away from Jhansi, situated on Jhansi–Kanpur National Highway 27. There is a fort in the middle of the to ...

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 hea ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

in the Kankane clan of the

Gahoi Gahoi is a merchant Vaishya-Baniya community in central India. Gahois are divided into 12 gotras, each gotra is divided into six ''all''s. They have traditionally interdined with the Parwar Jain community of Bundelkhand. The "Grahapati" famil ...

Baniya __NOTOC__ The Bania (also spelled Baniya, Banija, Banya, Vaniya, Vani, Vania and Vanya) is a Vaishya community mainly found in Indian states of Gujarat, and Rajasthan, but they are also found in Madhya Pradesh. Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh ...

community in a family that was once a wealthy zamindar family, but the wealth was lost by the time he was born. His father was Seth Ramcharan Gupta and mother's name was Kashibai. Both his father and his brother Shearamsharan Gupta were prominent poets. He disliked school as a child, so his father arranged for his education at their home. As a child, Gupt studied

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 ...

, English and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (15 May 1864 – 21 December 1938) was an Indian Hindi writer and editor. ''Adhunikkaal'', or the Modern period of the Hindi literature, is divided into four phases, and he represents the second phase, known as the ''Dwiv ...

was his mentor. He married in 1895.Rishi jaimini Kaushik Barua, "Ikhattara Varshon ki Abhinandaniya Gatha", in Raashhtarkavi Maithiliisharana Gupt Abhinandan Granth, Ed. Agravaal Vaasudevasharana, 1959, Raashhtarkavi Maithiliisharana Gupt Abhinandan Committee Calcutta, p. 150.

Literary works

Gupt entered the world of Hindi literature by writing poems in various magazines, including ''

Saraswati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...

''. In 1910, his first major work, ''Rang mein Bhang'' was published by Indian Press. With ''Bharat Bharati'', his nationalist poems became popular among Indians, who were struggling for independence. Most of his poems revolve around plots from

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 ...

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

stories and the lives of famous religious leaders. His famous work ''Saket'' revolves around

Urmila Urmila () is a princess featured in the Ramayana. She is the younger sister of Sita, and the wife of Lakshmana, the younger brother of Rama. Legend Urmila is the daughter of King Janaka of Mithila and Queen Sunayana, and the younger sister o ...

, wife of

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

, from

, while another of his works ''Yashodhara'' revolves around Yashodhara, the wife of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

. प्राण न पागल हो तुम यों, पृथ्वी पर वह प्रेम कहाँ.. मोहमयी छलना भर है, भटको न अहो अब और यहाँ.. ऊपर को निरखो अब तो बस मिलता है चिरमेल वहाँ..

Creative style

His works are based along patriotic themes, among others poets such as

Ramdhari Singh Dinkar Ramdhari Singh (23 September 1908 – 24 April 1974), known by his pen name Dinkar, was an Indian Hindi and Maithili language poet, essayist, freedom fighter, patriot and academic. He emerged as a poet of rebellion as a consequence of his ...

and

Makhanlal Chaturvedi Pandit Makhanlal Chaturvedi (4 April 1889 – 30 January 1968), also called Pandit ji, was an Indian poet, writer, essayist, playwright and a journalist who is particularly remembered for his participation in India's national struggle for indepe ...

. His poetry is characterized by non-rhyming couplets in Khadi Boli. Although the couplet structure is non rhyming, the prominent use of

alliterations Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

lends a rhythmic backdrop due to the rhythmic alterations between vowels and consonants. He was a religious man, and this can be seen in his works.

Major works

Poetry: * ''Saket(1931)'' * ''Rang mein Bhang(1905)'' * ''Matrubhumi'' * ''Bharat-Bharati(1912)'' * ''Jayadrath Vadh(1910)'' * ''Vikat Bhat'' * ''Plassey ka Yuddha'' * ''Gurukul'' * ''Kisan'' * ''Panchavati(1925)'' * ''Nirjhar'' * ''Yashodhara(1932)'' * ''Manushyata'' * ''Kirano ka khel'' * ''Dvapar(1936)'' * ''Anagh(1928)''

Political career

After India got independence in 1947, he was also made an honorary member of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, where he used poetry to put his opinions before the other members. He remained a member of the Rajya Sabha till his death in 1964. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1954.

References

External links

Maithili Sharan Gupt at Kavita KoshThree poems of the poet from Bharat Bharati are available for readers at www.geeta-kavita.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupt, Maithili Sharan 1886 births 20th-century Indian poets Hindi-language poets People from Jhansi district Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education M 20th-century Indian translators Translators to Hindustani Hindi-language writers Translators of Omar Khayyám Poets from Uttar Pradesh Rashtrakavi Indian male poets 1964 deaths