Nathuram Sharma (1859 – 21 August 1932), better known by his pen-name Mahakavi Shankar, was a

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 ...

and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

poet from

Harduaganj Harduaganj is a town and a '' nagar panchayat'' in the Aligarh district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The town is believed to be founded by Balram Dauji (elder brother of Krishna). An ancient temple dedicated to Dauji is located in t ...

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an Presidencies and provinces of British India, administrative region in British Raj, British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Cede ...

(now

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He worked with the Irrigation Department at

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

and subsequently as an Ayurvedic physician. His poetic works are primarily in the dialects of

Braj Bhasha Braj is a language within the Indo-Aryan language family spoken in the Braj region in Western Uttar Pradesh centered on Mathura. Along with Awadhi, it was one of the two predominant literary languages of North-Central India before gradually ...

and Khariboli. He was a writer of Modern Period.

Early life

Shankar was born in Gaur Brahmin family to Pandit Rupram Sharma 1859 in

(now

, and received his early education at the local primary school. In 1874, when he was a student of the Middle Class, English Educational Inspector E. T. Constable inspected the school. Constable was impressed with his talent and knowledge and commented in the inspection book: "Nathuram is an intelligent student, full of promise." Shankar knew Sanskrit and Persian as well as Hindi and Urdu. He was a contributor to ''Saraswati'', the literary journal of

Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (15 May 1864 – 21 December 1938) was an Indian Hindi writer and editor. ''Adhunikkaal'', or the Modern period of the Hindi literature, is divided into four phases, and he represents the second phase, known as the ''Dwi ...

Poetic works

Shankar's poetic works include: ''Anurag ratna'', ''Shankar saroj'', ''Garbhranda rahasya'', ''Gitavali'', ''Kavita kunj'', ''Doha'', ''Samasyapurtiyan'', ''Vividh rachnayen'', ''Kalit kalewar'' and ''Shankar Satsai''. Influenced by the

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s. Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...

movement, he was a social reformer who used his mastery of language effectively to this purpose. He was referred to as Mahakavi meaning Great Poet.

Death

Shankar died on 21 August 1932 at Harduaganj, Aligarh, North-Western Provinces, British India.

Lineage

Shankar was the father of Hindi poet

Hari Shankar Sharma Hari Shankar Sharma (1891–1968) was a Hindi language, Hindi and Urdu poet from Harduaganj, Aligarh, India. He was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India, in 1966. Biography Hari Shanka Sharma was born in Harduaganj, Aligarh, North- ...

, grandfather of Hindi poet and writer Kripa Shankar Sharma and great-grandfather of Hindi poet Indira Indu.

References

External links