harivansh bachchan

8/6/2019 Harivansh Bachchan

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Harivansh Bachchan

Born 27 November 1907Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

Died 18 January 2003 (aged 95)

Mumbai, India

Occupation Poet, writer

Alma mater St Catharine's College, Cambridge

Spouse(s) Shyama (19261936)

Teji Bachchan (19412003)

Children Amitabh Bachchan
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Harivansh Rai "Bachchan" Shrivastav (27 November 1907 18 January 2003) was a

notedHindipoetofChhayavaadliterary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th

century Hindi literature. He was also a famous poet of Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is best

known for his early work Madhushala ().[1]He is also the father

ofBollywoodmegastar, Amitabh Bachchanand grandfather ofAbhishek Bachchan.

Contents

[hide]

1 Personal life and education

2 Career

o 2.1 Teaching career

3 Popular culture

4 Awards and honors

5 List of works

6 References

[edit]Personal life and education

Born in a SrivastavaKayasthafamily, in the village of Babupatti (Raniganj) in the districtofPratapgarh, U.P. nearAllahabad in the United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh). He

was the eldest son of Pratap Narayan Shrivastav and Saraswati Devi. He was

called bachchan (meaning 'child-like') at home. He received his formal schooling in a

municipal school and followed the family tradition of attending Kayastha Paathshaalas

() to learn Urdu as the first step to a career in law. He later studied at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhayavaadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhayavaadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi_literaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavi_sammelanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhushalahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywoodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitabh_Bachchanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhishek_Bachchanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Personal_life_and_educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Careerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Teaching_careerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Popular_culturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Awards_and_honorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#List_of_workshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Referenceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan&action=edit&section=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srivastavahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayasthahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratapgarh,_Uttar_Pradeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allahabadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Provinces_of_Agra_and_Oudhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urduhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhayavaadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi_literaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavi_sammelanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhushalahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywoodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitabh_Bachchanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhishek_Bachchanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Personal_life_and_educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Careerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Teaching_careerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Popular_culturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Awards_and_honorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#List_of_workshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan#Referenceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harivansh_Rai_Bachchan&action=edit&section=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srivastavahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayasthahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratapgarh,_Uttar_Pradeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allahabadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Provinces_of_Agra_and_Oudhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdu


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the Allahabad Universityand Banaras Hindu University. In this period, he came under

the influence of the independence movement, then under the leadership ofMahatma

Gandhi.

Realizing that this was not the path he wanted to follow, he went back to the university.

However from 1941 to 1952 he taught in the English Department at the Allahabad

Universityand after that he spent the next two years at St Catharine's College,

Cambridge, Cambridge Universitydoing his doctoral thesis on W.B. Yeats. It was then,

that he used Bachchan as his last name instead of Srivastava. Harivanshrais thesis

got him his PhD at Cambridge. He is the second Indian to get his doctorate in English

literature from Cambridge. After returning to India he again took to teaching and also

served at All India Radio, Allahabad.

In 1926, at the age of 19, Bachchan married his first wife, Shyama, who was then 14

years old. However she died ten years later in 1936 after a long spell ofTB at just 24

years of age. Bachchan again married, Teji Bachchan, in 1941. They had two sons,

Amitabh and Ajitabh.

In 1955, Harivanshrai shifted to Delhi to join the External Affairs Ministry as an officer on

Special duty and during the period of 10 years that he served he was also associated

with the evolution of Hindi as the official language. He also enriched Hindi through his

translations of major writings. As a poet is famous for his poem Madhushala (a bar

selling alcoholic drinks). Besides Omar Khayyams Rubaiyat, he will also be

remembered for his Hindi translations of Shakespeares Macbeth and Othello and also

the Bhagvad Gita. However in Nov 1984 he wrote his last poem Ek November1984 on

Indira Gandhis assassination.

Harivanshrai was nominated to the Indian Rajya Sabha in 1966 and received the

Sahitya Akademi award three years later. In 1976 he was honoured with the Padma

Bhushan for his immense contribution to Hindi literature. He was also honoured with the

Saraswati Samman, the Sovietland Nehru Award and the Lotus Award of the Afro-Asian

writers conference, for his unique contribution to the world of letters. But if ever asked

to introduce himself, he had a simple introduction: Mitti ka tan, masti ka man, kshan-bhar jivan mera parichay. (A body of clay, a mind full of play, a moments life - that is

me.).

Bachchan died on January 18, 2003, at the age of 95, as a result of various respiratory

ailments.[2]His wife Teji Bachchandied four years later in 2007, at the age of 93.
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[edit]Career

[edit]Teaching career

From 1941 to 1952 he taught English Literatureat Allahabad Universityand then spent

two years at Cambridge University, at St Catharine's College. There he studied with the

famous English literaturedon, Thomas Rice Henn, and received a doctorate in English

Literaturefor his work on the Irish poet W.B. Yeatsand Occultism. It was there that he

used Bachchan as his last name instead of 'srivastava. He was the second Indian to get

his doctorate in English literaturefrom Cambridge University.

After returning to India, he taught briefly and then worked as a producer forAll India

Radio,mumbai In 1955, he moved to Delhi to join theMinistry of External Affairsof

the Government of India and there he was closely involved with the evolution ofHindi as

the official language of India.

Bachchan used to introduce himself as

Mitti ka tan, masti ka man, kshan-bhar jivan mera parichay. (, , , )

(A body of clay, a mind full of play, a moments life - that is me).

[edit]Popular culture

One of his inspirational poems,Agneepath ("Path of fire"), was used as the theme (and

its title as the title) for the 1991 blockbuster moviefeaturing his actor son Amitabh

Bachchan, as a ruthless mafia don. This movie was a failure commercially but earned

Amitabh Bachchan a National Award for his performance. You can see Amitabh

narrating the poem throughout the movie.

The poem describes the entire gamut of sufferings that the human race had gone

through and is going through.
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