Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Harivansh Rai Bachchan
Harivansh Rai Bachchan's portrait on a 2003 stamp of India
Bachchan on a 2003 stamp of India
BornHarivansh Rai Srivastava
(1907-11-27)27 November 1907
Babupatti, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India
(present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)
Died18 January 2003(2003-01-18) (aged 95)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Pen nameBachchan
Occupation
  • Poet
  • writer
LanguageAwadhi and Hindi
Alma materAllahabad University (B.A)
St Catharine's College, Cambridge (PhD)
Notable awardsPadma Bhushan (1976)
Spouse
  • Shyama Bachchan
    (m. 1926; died 1936)

    (m. 1941)
Children2 (including Amitabh Bachchan)
RelativesBachchan family
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
3 April 1966 – 2 April 1972
ConstituencyNominated
Signature

Harivansh Rai Bachchan ( Srivastava; 27 November 1907 – 18 January 2003) was an Indian poet and writer of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th century Hindi literature. He was also a poet of the Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is best known for his early work Madhushala. He was also the husband of social activist, Teji Bachchan, father of Amitabh Bachchan and Ajitabh Bachchan, and grandfather of Abhishek Bachchan. In 1976, he received the Padma Bhushan for his service to Hindi literature.

Personal life

Bachchan was born at Babupatti, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in British India on 27 November 1907 into an Awadhi Hindu Kayastha family. His family name was Srivastav. He began using the pen name "Bachchan" (meaning child) instead of Srivastava when he wrote Hindi poetry. From 1941 to 1957, he taught in the English Department at the Allahabad University and after that, he spent the next two years at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, completing a PhD on W.B. Yeats.

Bachchan married Shyama Bachchan in 1926. The latter died of tuberculosis in 1936. In 1941, he married Teji Suri.

Writing career

Bachchan was fluent in several Hindi languages (Hindustani and Awadhi). He incorporated a broadly Hindustani vocabulary, written in Devanagari script. While he could not read Persian script, he was influenced by Persian and Urdu poetry, particularly Omar Khayyam.

Works used in movies

Bachchan's work has been used in movies and music. For example, couplets of his work "Agneepath" are used throughout the 1990 film Agneepath, featuring his son Amitabh Bachchan, and also later in the 2012 remake Agneepath, starring Hrithik Roshan, as well as recently in the TV Serial Ishqbaaz.

Mitti ka tan, masti ka man, kshan-bhar jivan – mera parichay.
(मिट्टी का तन, मस्ती का मन, क्षण भर जीवन, मेरा परिचय)
(A body of clay, a mind full of play, a life of a moment – that's me)

List of works

See also

Further reading

  1. Kaveendra, Anil Pushker. Harivanshrai Bachchan Ki Anuvad Drishti (Hindi) (Hardcover) (2013). Ruby Press & Co., New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-82395-20-1

This page was last updated at 2024-01-03 09:33 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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