Jaishankar Prasad

Jaishankar Prasad Biography

Jaishankar Prasad was one of the leading poets of Hindi during 20^th century. He along with Sumitranandan Pant, Mahadevi Verma, and Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' are regarded as Four Pillars (Char Stambh) of Romanticism in Hindi Literature. This particular section of poetry has been termed as Chhayavad in Hindi literature. His initial poetry was done in the Braj dialect of Hindi while the later works were done in Khadi dialect or Sanskritized Hindi. His dramas were regarded top class, of which Skandagupta, Chandragupta and Dhruvaswamini are most popular. One of his patriotic poems, 'Himadri Tung Shring Se', was quite popular during Independence Day movement. Kamayani, the epic poem written by him is regarded as his master piece and considered one of the greatest literary works written in modern times in Hindi literature that depicts the interplay of emotions, thoughts, and actions of humans by taking mythological metaphors. His short story Mamta based on a real life incident was quite popular too.

Jaishankar Prasad was born on January 30, 1889 in Varanasi of UP. His father Babu Devki Prasad was a tobacco dealer. He lost his father at a younger age and due to financial problems, he had to leave studies. Yet he continued reading and used to read famous books. Later he was inclined towards Vedas. Later its shadows were formed in the philosophical writings of Jaishankar. His works are often regarded as ‘touching’ and he was one of the prominent poets in romanticism. He developed his own style and sophisticated diction, adding words from Sanskrit and avoids Persian.   

Apart from poems, Jaishankar has also contributed towards drama, short stories and Novels. His published novels are Titli, Iravathi and Kankal. A few of his story collections include – Chhaya, Chota jadugar, Mamta, Puraskar, Andhi and Praditvini. He has tried historical, mythological as well as social subjects for his works. He died at a comparatively younger age of 47.

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Updated: November 20, 2013