Hazari Prasad Dwivedi (19 August 190719 May 1979) was a

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 ...

novelist, literary historian, essayist, critic and scholar. He penned numerous novels, collections of essays, historical research on medieval religious movements of India especially

Kabir Kabir Das (1398–1518) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Garib Das ...

and Natha Sampradaya, and historical outlines of

Hindi literature Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃś ...

. Besides Hindi, he was master of many languages including

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

as well as

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

, and Apabhramsa. Steeped in traditional knowledge of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, and modern Indian languages, Dwivedi was destined to be the great bridge maker between the past and the present. As a student of Sanskrit, steeped in the Sastras, he gave a new evaluation to Sahitya-sastra and he can rightly be considered as a great commentator on the textual tradition of the Indian literature. He was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

in 1957 for his contribution to

, and the 1973

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 ...

for his collection of essays, 'Alok Parva'.

Early life

He was born on 19 August 1907 at Dubey-ka-Chhapra village in

Ballia district Ballia district is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ballia district is a part of Azamgarh division situated in the east of Uttar Pradesh. The main economic activity is agriculture. City is the district headquarters and commercial ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

in a traditional family famous for astrologers. His father Pandit Anamol Dwivedi was a learned

scholar. Dwivedi had his early education until middle examination at his village school. After completing his intermediate, he also studied ''

Jyotisha Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...

'' (astrology) and

at a traditional school to qualify for 'AchArya' degree in astrology and 'Shastri' degree in Sanskrit.

Career

Dwivedi joined

Visva Bharati Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the ...

in 1930. He taught Sanskrit and Hindi, and was engaged in research and creative writing. He stayed on in

Santiniketan Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by hi ...

for two decades. He helped to found the Hindi Bhavana and was its head for many years. During his stay at Shantiniketan, he came in close contact with

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

and other prominent figures of

Bengali literature Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...

. He came to imbibe the subtleties of Bengali, the aesthetic sensibilities of

Nandalal Bose Nandalal Bose (3 December 1882 – 16 April 1966) was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. A pupil of Abanindranath Tagore, Bose was known for his "Indian style" of painting. He became the principa ...

, the search for roots of

Kshitimohan Sen Kshitimohan Sen (2 December 1880 – 12 March 1960) was Indian scholar, writer, a Sanskrit professor and an M.A. in Sanskrit from Queen's College, Benares. He was born in a family hailing from Sonarang in Bengal Presidency (now in Bangladesh). H ...

and the gentle but piercing humour of Gurudayal Mallik. These influences are evident in his later writings. He left

Shantiniketan Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his s ...

in 1950 and became Reader in the Hindi Department at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, where Dr. Jagannath Prasad Sharma was the rofessor and head of the department. Dwivedi Ji served there till 1960. While in this position, he was also appointed a Member of the first Official Language Commission set up in 1955 by

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. In 1960 he joined

Panjab University Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Laho ...

, Chandigarh, as Professor and Head of its Hindi Department, a post that he held till his retirement.

Works

Dwivedi's were very best sahityakar contributions to Indian creative and critical writings are phenomenal and his interests diverse. He wrote the following important works in literary history and criticism: * Sahitya ki Bhumika * Hindi Sahitya ka Adikala The above writings of his gave a new direction to the history of criticism in the Hindi literature. He also published his historical analysis of medieval religious life of India in following books: * Kabir * Madhyakalin Dharma Sadhana * Natha Sampradaya His work on medieval saint

is considered a masterpiece, and is a thoroughly researched analysis of Kabir's thought, works, and teachings. He was also an eminent novelist. His novels revolved around Historical themes and personages. His following Historical Novels are considered classics: * Banbhatt Ki Aatmkatha (1946) * Anamdas Ka Potha * Punarnava * Charu-chandra-Lekha He was also a great essayist. Some of his memorable essays are: * Kalplata (Shirish ke phool and other essays): Shirish ke phool is part of NCERT Hindi book for class XII * Nakhoon Kyon Barhte Hain (Why do the nails grow) * Ashok ke phool * Kutaj * Alok Parva (Collection) He also translated many works from English and other languages to Hindi. These include: * Prabandha-Chintamani (from

) * Puratan Prabandha Sangraha * Vishva Parichay * Lal Kaner *"mouthi mar thi hoa mara"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwivedi, Hazari Prasad 20th-century Indian essayists Hindi-language writers Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Hindi People from Ballia district 1907 births 1979 deaths Novelists from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian translators 20th-century Indian biographers People associated with Santiniketan

Early life

Career

Works

See also

References