Dharamvir Bharati (25 December 1926 – 4 September 1997) was a renowned

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 ...

poet, author, playwright and a social thinker of India. He was the chief editor of the popular Hindi weekly magazine '' Dharmayug'', from 1960 till 1987.The Illustrated weekly of India: Volume 108, Issues 39–50, 1987. Bharati was awarded the Padma Shree for literature in 1972 by the Government of India. His novel '' Gunaho Ka Devta'' became a classic. Bharati's '' Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda'' is considered a unique experiment in story-telling and was made into a

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

-winning movie by the same name in 1992 by Shyam Benegal. ''

Andha Yug ''Andha Yug'' (Hindi: अंधा युग, ''The Age of Blindness'' or ''The Blind Age'') is a 1953 verse play written in Hindi, by renowned novelist, poet, and playwright Dharamvir Bharati (1926-1997). Set in the last day of the Great Mahabhar ...

'', a play set immediately after the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

war, is a classic that is frequently performed in public by drama groups He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Playwriting (Hindi) in 1988, given by

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...

, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama.

Early life

Dharamvir Bharati was born on 25 December 1926 in a Kayastha Family of Allahabad to Chiranji Lal and Chanda devi. The family underwent considerable financial hardships after his father died early. He had a sister, Dr. Veerbala. He did his MA in Hindi from

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

in 1946 and won the "Chintamani Ghosh Award" for securing highest marks in Hindi. Dharamvir Bharati was the sub-editor for magazines ''Abhyudaya'' and ''Sangam'' during this period. He completed his PhD in 1954 under Dr. Dhirendra Verma on the topic of "Siddha Sahitya" and was appointed lecturer in

at Allahabad University. The 1950s were the most creative period in Bharati's life: He wrote many novels, dramas, poems, essays, and critical works during this phase.

Journalism (Mumbai)

In 1960 he was appointed as chief-editor of the popular

weekly magazine '' Dharmayug'' by the

Times Group Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited, (abbreviated as B.C.C.L. and d/b/a The Times Group), is an Indian media conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company remains a family-owned business with Sahu Jain family owning a majori ...

and moved to Bombay. He remained the editor of ''Dharmayug'' till 1987. During this long phase the magazine became the most popular Hindi weekly of the country and reached new heights in Hindi journalism. As a field reporter, Bharati personally covered the Indo-Pak war that resulted in the liberation of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Personal life

Dr Bharati married in 1954 and later divorced Kanta Bharati with whom he had a daughter: Parmita. A few years later he remarried and had a son Kinshuk Bharati and a daughter Pragya Bharati with Pushpa Bharati. Bharati developed heart ailments and died after a brief illness in 1997.

Prominent works

Novels

*'' Gunaho Ka Devta'' (गुनाहों का देवता) (1949) *'' Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda'' (सूरज का सातवां घोड़ा, 1952) (The Seventh Steed of the Sun) — A short novel published in 1952 that may be viewed as a set of connected mini-narratives can be called one of the foremost instances of metafiction in 20th century Hindi literature. The protagonist is a young man named Manik Mulla who recounts these tales to his friends. The name of the work is an allusion to Hindu mythology according to which the chariot of the Sun-God Surya is said to be drawn by seven horses. (viz. seven days in a week). This novella has been translated into Bengali by poet

Malay Roy Choudhury Malay Roy Choudhury (born 29 October 1939) is an Indian Bengali poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded the Hungryalist movement in the 1960s. Early life and education Malay Roy Choudhury was born in Patna, ...

of Hungry generation fame, for which he was bestowed with the Sahitya Academy Award. Shyam Benegal's film by the same name (1992), based on the novel, won the National Film Award for Best Actor. *''Giyara sapno ka desh'' (ग्यारह सपनों का देश) *''Prarambh va Samapan'' (प्रारंभ व समापन)

Poetry

Kanupriya, Thanda Loha, Saat Geet Varsh, Sapana Abhi Bhi and Toota Pahiya are amongst his most popular works of poetry. Toota Pahiya tells a story of how a broken wheel helped Abhimanyu in the Mahabharata war.

Play in poetry

'' (The Age of Blindness) is a poetic play. Structured on events in the

, ''

'' focuses on the last day of the Mahabharata war. It is a powerful metaphorical work. It has been directed by

Ebrahim Alkazi Ebrahim Alkazi (18 October 1925 – 4 August 2020) was an Indian theatre director and drama teacher. A rigid disciplinarian, he instilled in his acting students an awe and reverence that they still carry with them, with several of them havin ...

, Raj Bisaria, M.K. Raina,

Ratan Thiyam Ratan Thiyam (born 20 January 1948) is an Indian playwright and theatre director, and the winner of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, one of leading figures of the "''theatre of roots''" movement in Indian theatre, which started in the 1970s ...

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 politica ...

Ram Gopal Bajaj Ram Gopal Bajaj is an Indian theatre director, academician, and a Hindi film actor. He has also been a faculty member and a former Director of National School of Drama, New Delhi (1995 – September 2001). He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2003 a ...

Mohan Maharishi Mohan Maharishi is an Indian theatre director, actor and a playwright. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 'Direction' in 1992. Early life Mohan Maharishi graduated from National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1965, and later serv ...

, Bhanu Bharti ravin kumar gunjan nd many other Indian theatre directors.

Story collections

Drow Ka gaon (र्दों का गाव), Swarg aur Prathvhi (स्वर्ग और पृथ्वी), Chand aur Tute hue Log (चाँद और टूटे हुए लोग), Band gali Ka Aakhkri Makaan (बंद गली का आखिरी मकान), Saas ki Kalam se (सास की कलम से), Samasta Kahaniya ek Saath (समस्त कहानियाँ एक साथ)

Essays

Thele par Himalayas (ठेले पर हिमालय), Pashyanti stories: Ankahi (पश्यंती कहानियाँ :अनकही), The river was thirsty (नदी प्यासी थी), Neel Lake (नील झील), Human values and literature (मानव मूल्य और साहित्य), Cold iron (ठंडा लोहा)

Film about Bharati

''Dr. Bharati'': documentary directed by young story writer Uday Prakash for Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, 1999

Awards

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

by the Government of India, 1972 *Rajendra Prasad Shikhar Samman *Bharat Bharati Samman *Maharashtra Gaurav, 1994 *Kaudiya Nyas *Vyasa Samman *1984, Valley turmeric best journalism awards *1988, best playwright Maharana Mewar Foundation Award *1989, the

, Delhi

Translations

* ''Andha Yug'': Dharamvir Bharati, translated in English by Alok Bhalla, published by Oxford University Press. ,

References

External links

Official website of Dharamvir Bharati

Dharamvir Bharti at Kavita Kosh
(Hindi)
Remembring Bharati Ji: An article by his sister Dr. Veerbala: यादें भैया की

Remembering Bharati Ji: An article by Prof. Rajiv Krishna Saxena: मामा जीः कुछ संस्मरण
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bharati, Dharamvir 1926 births 1997 deaths Writers from Allahabad University of Allahabad alumni Hindi-language writers Hindi journalists Hindi-language poets Hindi theatre Hindi dramatists and playwrights University of Allahabad faculty Indian male dramatists and playwrights Indian male journalists Indian magazine editors Indian male novelists Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Indian male poets Poets from Uttar Pradesh Journalists from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian journalists Dramatists and playwrights from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian male writers