Sumitranandan Pant

Sumitranandan Pant Biography

Sumitranandan Pant was one of the leading poets of 20^th century and his poems can be grouped under Modern Hindi poetry. Pant was the first Hindi poet to receive the Jnanpith Award, in 1968. And he received the honorary prize for his collection poems titled, ‘Chidambara’. Sumitranandan Pant is grouped among the four major poets of the Chhayavaadi school of the Hindi literature, others being Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Jaishankar Prasad and Mahadevi Varma. Chhayavaadi means a period of romanticism in Modern Hindi poetry ranging from 1914-1938. Pant is widely regarded as one among the four pillars of Chhayavaadi.

Sumitranandan Pant was born on May 20, 1900 at Kausani village of Bhageshwar. But his mother died soon after giving birth to him. He was the youngest of 7 siblings and he was brought up by his grandmother. His real name is Gosain Dutt. He completed his early schooling from Almora and completed matriculation at the age of 18 from Kashi. He changed his name to Sumitranandan Pant. He joined Allahabad University for a degree course, but discontinued studies to participate in freedom struggle movement. But he spared time to English, Sanskrit, and Bengali literature at home.

Pant’s attraction to writings began at an age of 7 when he was a child. He was fascinated by the beauty of nature and his village and poured words from heart describing its beauty. His earlier works reflected a sublime touch of the scenic serenity and 1907-1918 has been the first phase of his writing career. The whole poems written during this period has been compiled and published together in the year 1927, titled Veena. But his first published book was "Uchchhavaas" in the year 1922.

A few notable works of Pant include –Chidambara, Pallav, Gunjan, Granthi and Kala and Burha Chand (Sahitya academy award). He has also received Padma Bhushan and Nehru Peace Prize by Soviet Union for "Lokayatan". He passed away on December 28, 1977 and now his childhood home has been converted to a museum.

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Updated: November 22, 2013