Chandrakant Devtale

Chandrakant Devtale Biography

Chandrakant Devtale was a prominent writer associated with Hindi literature. He was an honoured poet, a translator and a prolific writer. One of the most distinguished and honoured poets in Hindi literature, he also owned a journalist career during his student days. He also served as a professor in Hindi literature. Srijan Bharti Puraskar 1993, The Makhanlal Chaturvedi Award for poetry, The M.P. Government Shikhar Samman 1986 and National Maithilisharan Gupt Award for poetry 1999 are mahor awards received by him.

He wrote more than 500 poems and some of his famous works include - Haddiyon Mein Chhipa Jwar (1973), Deewaron Par Khoon Se (1975),  Lakadbaggha Hans Raha Hai (1980), Roshni Ke Maidan Ki Taraf (1982), Bhookhand Tap Raha Hai (1982),  Aag Har Cheez Mein Batai Gai Thi (1987), Patthar Ki Bench (1996) Uske Sapne (1997). He passed away on August 15, the Independence Day, 2017 aged 81.

Chandrakant Devtale was born in 1936 in Jaulkhera village of Bhetul district of Madhya Pradesh. It was a tribal village. His higher education was completed at Indore. He later took PhD from Sagar Viswavidhyalaya, Sagar. He did research work on the famous poet, Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh to complete his PhD. In his professional career, he served as a professor at the Government Arts and Commerce College, Indore, Madhya Pradesh and, also Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Devi Ahilyabai University Indore, till his retirement.

Devtale started writing in 1952, and by early 1960s, he published his poems in almost all leading Hindi magazines. In a career spanning to more than 5 decades, he authored more than 500 poems, and majority of his poetry collections were published during the decades 1970s and 1980s. Many of his poems have been translated to several Indian and foreign languages. He travelled nationwide and participated in major Poetry festivals and literary seminars.

Devtale was an avid translator as well. He translated many anthologies written in English, Urdu, Malayalam and Bengali languages to Hindi. He translated majority of works of Marathi poet Dilip Chitre to Hindi. His poems and reviews were regularly published in many literary magazines. He also wrote columns on politics. Deotale has been a member of National Book Trust, Raja Rammohan Library Foundation, Central Hindi Institute, Sahitya Akademi and also served as Vice-President of the Madhya Pradesh Sahitya Parishad.

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Updated: August 16, 2017