Ram Chandra Shukla (4 October 1884 – 2 February 1941), better known as Acharya Shukla, was an Indian historian of
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
literature. He is regarded as the first codifier of the history of Hindi literature in a scientific system by using wide, empirical research with scant resources. As an author he is best known for ''Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihaas'' (1928–29).
Early life
Acharya Ramchandra Shukla was born on 4 October 1884,
Basti district
Basti district is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh state, India, and a part of Basti Division. Basti city is the district headquarters.
Origin of name and history
Basti was originally known as Vaishishthi. The origin of the name Vaishi ...
in a wealthy
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
family,. His father Chandrabali Shukla was a Revenue Inspector (Kanoongo) at that time. Before he did his high school at London Mission School he learned
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu" '' Allahabad and continued his study; after that he wrote and published his valuable literature works and his experienced information.
Biography
The work of Shukla traces the genesis of Hindi poetry and
prose
Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...
since the 6th century and its development through Buddhist and Nath schools and the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
contributions of
Amir Khusro
Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253–1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau was an Indo-Persian culture, Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar who lived under the Delhi Sultanate. He is an iconic figure in the cultural his ...
Ravidas
Ravidas or Raidas, was an Indian mystic poet-saint of the bhakti movement during the 15th to 16th century CE. Venerated as a ''guru'' (teacher) in the modern regions of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punj ...
,
Tulsidas
Tulsidas (; born Rambola Dubey; also known as Goswami Tulsidas; c.1511pp. 23–34.–1623) was a Ramanandi Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, but ...
, stretching to the modern realism of
Nirala
Nirala, real name Syed Muzaffar Husain Zaidi ( ur, ) (8 August 1937 – 9 December 1990) was a Pakistani comedian and film actor. He only appeared in Urdu films made in Pakistan. His first film was ''Aur bhi gham hain'' (1960). His last ...
and Premchand.
In his assessment of Shukla (''Acharya Ramchandra Shukla aur Hindi Alochana'') eminent critic Dr. Ram Vilas Sharma emphasises the fact that the great writer opposed feudal and courtly literature as it did not give a true picture of the life of the common people and contemporary society.
His works of literary criticism include ''Kavita Kya Hai'', the most widely read essay explaining poetry and poetics in his outstanding collection ''Chintamani'', published initially in two volumes as a collection of essays on emotions like
anger
Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat.
A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, su ...
and hatred. Recently his scattered and unpublished essays have been found and published as ''Chintamani-3'' edited by Namwar Singh and ''Chintamani-4'' by Kusum Chaturvedi.
To enrich the worldview of Hindi speakers, Acharya Shukla translated
Edwin Arnold
Sir Edwin Arnold KCIE CSI (10 June 183224 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work '' The Light of Asia''.The Light of Asia'' into ''Buddha Charit'' (A biography of
Gautam Buddha Gautama, Gautam or Gotama may refer to:
Ancient sages and philosophers
* Akṣapāda Gautama, a Hindu sage and founder of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy: see Nyāya Sūtras
* Indrabhuti Gautama, chief disciple of Mahavira
* Gautama Buddha, th ...
in Brij Bhasha verse) and German scholar Ernst Haeckel's famous work ''The Riddles of Universe'' into ''Vishwa Prapanch'' where he added his own thought-provoking preface by comparing its findings with Indian philosophical systems.
These works signify that he did not restrict himself to be the foremost moderniser of the Hindi
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
, literature and thought. He was involved with scientific temper-building by translating and updating works of science and history. In developing a scientific methodology to investigate the literary works of several centuries as creations of socio-economic and political conditions of the respective era, Acharya Shukla became a pathbreaker.
In his view true literature is not merely an expression of human consciousness as an end in itself but accounts for Lokmangal, a concept defining progress of society where common people are supreme and their sufferings are best understood as purpose for amelioration: literature, through aesthetics, must address itself to the pains/woes of the downtrodden and underdog and work for human emancipation from exploitation of all kinds.
Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla was born on 4 October 1884 to Chandrabali Shukla in a small village—Agona, Basti, Uttar Pradesh—during British rule over India. He started his work in the world of letters with a poem and an article ''Prachin Bharatiyoin Ka Pahirava'' in Hindi and by writing in English his first published essay at the age of 17—''What Has India to do''. Keeping in the spirit of anti-imperialism, in 1921, he wrote ''Non-co-operation and Non-mercantile Classes of India'' which was an attempt to look at the struggle of Indian classes in the set up of colonial and semi-feudal economy.
Acharya Shukla taught at
Banaras Hindu University
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...
Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
and chaired its department of Hindi during
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya
Madan Mohan Malaviya ( (25 December 1861 — 12 November 1946) was an Indian scholar, educational reformer and politician notable for his role in the Indian independence movement. He was president of the Indian National Congress four times and ...
's period from 1937 until he died (1941). Although not a regular story writer, he wrote a long Hindi story "Gyarah Varsh Ka Samay" to inspire original writing. His collection of original poems ''Madhushrota'' includes his adolescent hunger for hills, rocks, waterfalls, crops and birds, and images of his childhood sphere. His famous work ''Sahitya ka Itihaas'' was later edited online by a group of eminent Hindi writers and translators, led by Dr. Suresh Kumar Mishra "Uratrupt", writer and methodologist from Ranga Reddy,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
.''Hindi Sahitya ka Itihaas'' is considered as authentic Hindi literature.
Ram Chandra Shukla was married to Savitri Devi and had two sons, Keshav Chandra and Gokul Chandra, and three daughters, Durgavati, Vidhya and Kamla. He was a painter and designed his own house, which was incomplete when he died in 1941.
''Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla Sahitya Shodh Sansthan'', a research institute established in 1972 in his name, is a center of literary activities. It was built on the wish of his son Gokul Chandra Shukla and on the land provided by the Varanasi local authority. Later it got financial help from the state government of Uttar Pradesh for building and infrastructure. Its first secretary, Kusum Chaturvedi, published a regular journal ''Naya Mandand'' which established a reputation for its special numbers on women, postmodernism, Dalit Sahitya, among others. Its articles and research papers are acclaimed in Hindi and Indian languages literature. After the death of Kusum Chaturvedi, a connoisseur of literature, Gyan Datta Chaturvedi became the secretary. After his death, Dr. Manjeet Chaturvedi, son of Kusum Chaturvedi and Gyan Datta Chaturvedi, professor, Banaras Hindu University took over as the Secretary (MANTRI) of Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla Sahitya Shodh Sansthan; its Chairperson (ADHYAKSHA) is Dr. Mukta, a famous author of Hindi stories. Kusum Chaturvedi and Mukta have produced a documentary for Doordarshan on Acharya Shukla and published his authentic biography.
Works
Acharya Shukla Sansthan has published following under the editorship of Kusum Chaturvedi.
*Nirala Aur Nazrul Ka Rashtriya Chintan
*Nirvachit Prabandh Sankalan
*Sadi Ke Ant Mein Hindi
*Naya Mandand (research journal in Hindi)
See also
*
List of Indian writers
This is a list of notable writers who come from India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countri ...
References
Further reading
*''Alochak Ram Chandra Shukla'' by Ganga Prasad Pandey
*''Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla'' aur ''Hindi Alochana'' by Dr. Ram Vilas Sharma
*''Lokjagran Aur Acharya Shukla'' by Dr. Ram Vilas Sharma
*''Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla'' by Professor Joseph Mundasshweri
*''Bharatiya Sahitya Samiksha'' aur ''Acharya Shukla''
*"Acharya Ramchandra Shukla ka Anuvad Karm" by Dr. Anand Kumar Shukla
*"Acharya Ramchandra Shukla Ki Itihas Drishti", Prof. M. P. Sharma