Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh (13 November 1917 – 11 September 1964) was a prominent

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

poet, essayist, literary and political critic, and fiction writer of the 20th century. Muktibodh is widely regarded as a pioneer of modern Hindi poetry in India along with Surya Kant Tripathi 'Nirala'.Muktibodh

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its off ...

Official website. He was a leading figure in the ''Prayogvaad''

Experimentalism Experimentalism is the philosophical belief that the way to truth is through experiments and empiricism. It is also associated with instrumentalism, the belief that truth should be evaluated based upon its demonstrated usefulness. Experimentalism is ...

movement of Hindi literature and of the ''Nayi Kahani'' and ''Nayi Kavita''

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

of the 1950s. He is also considered a central figure in the rise of 'New Criticism' in Indian literature. He was an assistant-editor of several noted Hindi journals including ''Naya Khun'' and ''Vasudha''.Muktibodh Profile
www.abhivyakti-hindi.org. Muktibodh was born in

Sheopur Sheopur is a city in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Sheopur District. The City is situated on the right bank of the Seep River, a tributary of the Chambal. Thus the city derives its name from " ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

. He was one of the seven poets included in the first volume of '' Tar Saptak'', a series of anthologies (1943), which marked a transition in

Hindi literature Hindi literature () includes literature in the various Central Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Hindi, some of which have different writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃśa such as Awad ...

from the prevalent movement in Chhayavaad or Romanticism. The initiation of ''Prayogvaad or''

and ''Pragativaad or''

Progressivism Progressivism is a Left-right political spectrum, left-leaning political philosophy and Reformism, reform political movement, movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has unive ...

in Hindi poetry eventually led to the creation of the 'Nayi Kahani' (New Story) movement or

. ''Brahmarakshas'' (ब्रह्मराक्षस) is considered Muktibodh's most influential work in experimental poems, noted for the use of archetypal imagery. The poem is a depiction of the contemporary intellectual, who gets so lost in his own sense of perfectionism, unending calculations, and subjective interpretation of the external reality that he loses touch with reality itself, and eventually dies and fades away like a dead bird. Muktibodh was deeply influenced by

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and

Existentialism Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and valu ...

, and expressed his deep discontent with contemporary society. According to Sanjay K. Gautam, Muktibodh was "the most influential Marxist Hindi poet in postcolonial India, and one of the founders of modernism in Hindi poetry". He continued to show his progressive streak even after the disintegration of the

Progressive Writers' Movement The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' () or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय प्रगतिश� ...

after 1953; and, through the rest of his career, he along with writers like Yashpal, continued his ideological fight against modernist and formalist trends in Hindi literature. He is best known for his long poems:''Brahma-rakshasa'' (ब्रह्मराक्षस), ''Chand ka Muh Teda hai'' (The Moon Wears a Crooked Smile) (चाँद का मुहँ टेढ़ा है), ''Andhere Mein'' (In the Dark) (अंधेरे में) and ''Bhuri Bhuri Khak Dhul'' (The Brown Dry Dust) (भूरी भूरी ख़ाक धूल); his complete works extending to 6 volumes, were published in 1980, as ''Muktibodh Rachnavali''. Sharadchandra Madhav Muktibodh (1921–1985), a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

poet, novelist, and Marxist critic, winner of

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

(1979) in Marathi, was the younger brother of Muktibodh

Works

His first individual book was published in 1964, when he was on his death-bed: (''Chand Ka Muh Teda Ha

' (चाँद का मुहँ टेढ़ा है). Although Muktibodh could not manage to get his works published, as a book in his lifetime, he was one of the contributing poets to the first three volumes of '' Tar Saptak'', a series of path-breaking poetry anthologies, edited by

Ajneya Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan (7 March 1911 – 4 April 1987), popularly known by his pen name Agyeya (also transliterated Ajneya, meaning 'the unknowable'), was an Indian writer, poet, novelist, literary critic, journalist, translator an ...

. "Bhoori Bhoori Khak Dhool" is the collection of his remaining poems. His collected works, published as 'Muktibodh Rachnavali" were edited by Nemichand Jain. He is today considered a bridge between the Progressive movement in Hindi poetry and the ''Nayi Kavita'' (Modern poetry) movement. Muktibodh made a name for himself in the field of criticism as well, with his strong views on the upper caste influence on the disintegration of Bhakti movement in India, which he viewed a lower caste uprising against the hegemony upper caste. In literary criticism, he wrote a critical work on Jaishankar Prasad's '' Kamayani'' titled: ''Kamayani, Ek Punarvichar''. ''Ek Sahityik ki Diary'', first written for his column in the weekly ''Naya Khun'', and later continued in the journal ''Vasudha'' (1957–60), offers a glimpse of his literary and socio-political criticism, and insights into his way of thinking, and was first published in 1964. It is most noted for the article, ''Teesra Kshana'' (Third Moment), where he shows his preference for the hypothesis of three successive stages in the creative process, of inspiration, impersonalisation and expression, rather than a single moment of inspiration

Media

feature film, '' Satah Se Uthata Aadmi'' (Arising from the Surface), with script and dialogues by him, was directed by veteran film director,

Mani Kaul Mani Kaul (25 December 1944 – 6 July 2011) was an Indian director of Hindi films and a figure in Indian parallel cinema. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and later be ...

, and shown at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

in 1981. In 2004, "Brahmarakshas ka Shishya", a dramatization of Muktibodh's story, was presented in New Delhi by Soumyabrata Choudhury. His novel, ''Vipatra'' has also been made into an audio book for the blind.

Legacy

His brilliance was recognized by the literary world after the posthumous publication of ''Chand Ka Munh Tedha Hai,'' the first collection of his poems, in the early 1960s. Ever since, the book has run into several editions, and is recognized as a modern classic. In his memory,

Sahitya Parishad, has instituted the annual ''MuktiBodh Puraskar''. In 2004, 'Muktibodh Smarak', a memorial was set up at the 'Triveni Sangrahalaya' in

Rajnandgaon Rajnandgaon is a city in Rajnandgaon District, in the state of Chhattisgarh, India. the population of the city was 163,122. Rajnandgaon district came into existence on 26January 1973, as a result of the division of Durg district. History Or ...

in Chhattisgarh, along with fellow poets of Chhattisgarh, ''Padumlal Punnalal Bakshi'' and ''Baldeo Prasad Mishra''.

Bibliography

* ''Chand ka Muh Teda Hai'' – (Anthology of Poems), 1964,

Bharatiya Jnanpith Bharatiya Jnanpith a literary and research organization, based in New Delhi, India, was founded on February 18, 1944Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 1, p. 298 1987, Sahitya Akademi, by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family and h ...

. * ''Kath Ka Sapna'' (Anthology of Short stories), 1967,

. * ''Satah Se Uthta Admi'' (Anthology of Short stories), 1971,

* ''Nayi Kavita ka Atmasangharsh tatha anya Nibandha'' (Essays), 1964, Visvabharati Prakashan. * ''Ek Sahityik ki Diary'' (Essays), 1964,

. * ''Vipatra'' (Novel), 1970,

. * ''Naye sahitya ka saundarya-shastra'', 1971, Radhakrishna Prakashan. * ''Kamayani: Ek punarvichar'', 1973, Sahitya Bharti. * ''Bhuri Bhuri Khak Dhul'' – (Anthology of Poems), 1980, New Delhi, Rajkamal Publications. * ''Muktibodh Rachnavali'', Edited by Nemichandra Jain, (Complete Works) 6 Vols., 1980, New Delhi, Rajkamal Publications. * ''Samiksha ki samasyain'', 1982, New Delhi, Rajkamal Publications. * ''Pratinidhi kavitayein'', edited by Ashoka Vajapeyi. 1984,

Rajkamal Prakashan Rajkamal Prakashan is a noted publishing house of Hindi literature as well as English book publication. Established in 1947, the publishing house is headquartered in New Delhi, with branches in Patna, Ranchi, Prayagraj, Kolkata and some other lo ...

. * In the Dark: ''Andhere Mein'', translated by Krishna Baldev Vaid. 2001, Rainbow Publishers. . (.). * ''Dabre Par Sooraj ka Bimb'', 2002, National Book Trust. . * ''Muktibodh Ki Kavitayen'' (Anthology of Poems), 2004,

. .

Notes and references

External links