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Kavi Kant (Gujarati: મણિશંકર રત્નશંકર ભટૃ or "કાન્ત") is a poet associated with Gujarat and Gujarati literature.

Life[link]

Kavi Kant was born Manishankar Ratnashankar Bhatt in 1868 in Chavand village, part of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. He was born a Hindu and was part of the Prashnora, Nagar Bhramin caste. His family valued education highly. This initial influence left him with a deep interest in not only educational knowledge but philosophy as well. Apart from knowing about the Hindu philosophy, he was also a student of the Bible and its philosophy.

In 1891 his first wife Narmada died. He was heart broken and could find no comfort in anything, including his religion. His search for answers about life and death lead him to the philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg. His writings helped provide some relief for his grief and he converted to Christianity in 1898.

His family and friends opposed his decision and due to public and political opposition, he had to give up his position as minister of education in the Princely State of Bhavnagar. He as an outcaste and his family was also shunned by his community. For example, no one would allow a member of their family to be associated in anyway with his new wife or young children. In order to protect his family and save them from this isolation, he separated from them.

As his decision formed greater repercussions, the King of Bhavnagar along with some of his other friends formed an "intervention" of sorts to ask him to change his mind. They implored him to consider what he was doing to everyone and reconsider his decision. He realized that he could not stand to see the suffering of his family because of his own decision. He missed them dearly and did not want to be apart from them. With these two factors in mind he finally converted back to the Hindu religion.

Literary Work[link]

He wrote one poetry book called Purvalap, which was released on the day he died. He invented a form of poetry called "Khand-Kavya". His poem "Sagar ane Sashi (The Sea and the Moon)" is considered one of the ten best lyric (Urmi-Kavita) of all time.^{[citation needed]} He also wrote the plays Roman-Swaraj and Guru Govindsinh.

References[link]

• Brahmbhatt, Prasad. (2003) Kavyasarita. (Literary Criticism of the evolution of Poetry). Ahmedabad: Parshwa Publication.
• Jhaveri, K. M. Milestones in Gujarati Literature
• Trivedi, Ramesh. M. (1994) Arvachin Gujarati Sahityano Itihaas. (History of Modern Gujarati Literature). Ahmedabad: Adarsh Prakashan.
• Trivedi, Ramesh. M. (2005) Gujarati Sahityano Itihaas. (History of Gujarati Literature). Ahmedabad: Adarsh Prakashan.
• Pathak, Ramnarayan, V. (1926) Purvalap. (First Word). Ahmedabad: R.R. Sheth Company.

External links[link]

• History of Gujarati Literature

Krishan Kant
File:Krishan Kant.jpg
Vice President of India
In office 21 August 1997 – 27 July 2002
President	Kocheril Raman Narayanan
Preceded by	Kocheril Raman Narayanan
Succeeded by	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Governor of Tamil Nadu
In office 22 December 1996 – 25 January 1997
Chief Minister	Muthuvel Karunanidhi
Preceded by	Marri Chenna Reddy
Succeeded by	Fatima Beevi
Governor of Andhra Pradesh
In office 7 February 1990 – 21 August 1997
Chief Minister	Marri Chenna Reddy Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Nara Chandrababu Naidu
Preceded by	Kumudben Manishankar Joshi
Succeeded by	G. Ramanujam
Personal details
Born	(1927-02-28)28 February 1927
Died	27 July 2002(2002-07-27) (aged 75)
Political party	Janata Dal (1988–2002)
Other political affiliations	Indian National Congress (Before 1977) Janata Party (1977–1988)
Spouse(s)	Shrimati Suman
Alma mater	Banaras Hindu University
Profession	Scientist
Signature

Krishan Kant (28 February 1927 – 27 July 2002) was the tenth Vice President of India from 1997 until his death.

Kant's first brush with politics came when he plunged into the Quit India movement, while he was still a student in Lahore. He took part in the Indian Independence Movement as a youth and continued to be involved in politics, eventually being elected to Parliament of India. He was part of the "Young Turk" brigade of Indian National Congress party during the time of Indira Gandhi. He held prominent offices in the Parliamentary and Organisational wings of Indian National Congress and later the Janata Party and the Janata Dal.^[1] He was a member of the Executive Council, for several years, of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

Krishan Kant was the founding general secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights, of which Jayprakash Narayan was the President in 1976. He was expelled from the Indian National Congress in 1975 for his opposition to the Emergency. He was later a member of Lok Sabha till 1980.^[2] He was the chairman of Committee on Railway Reservations and Bookings from 1972 -1976.

He with Madhu Limaye was also responsible for the collapse of the Morarji Desai government installed by that coalition, by insisting that no member of the Janata Party could be the member of RSS. This attack on dual membership was directed specifically at members of the Janata Party who had been members of the Jan Sangh, and continued to be members of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Jan Sangh's ideological parent. The issue led to fall of Morarji Desai government in 1979, and the destruction of the Janata coalition ^[3]

A strong protagonist of India going nuclear, Krishan Kant was a member of the executive council of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.^[4]

Kant was appointed governor of Andhra Pradesh by the V.P. Singh government in 1989 and served in that position for seven years, becoming one of India's longest-serving governors. He stayed at that post till he was elevated as Vice-President of India.

He was elected vice-president by Parliament as the joint candidate of the Indian National Congress and United Front. He died in New Delhi. He is the only Indian Vice President to die in office.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile on Embassy of India in Washington website

v t e Vice Presidents of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan · Zakir Hussain · V. V. Giri · Gopal Swarup Pathak · Basappa Danappa Jatti · Muhammad Hidayatullah · R. Venkataraman · Shankar Dayal Sharma · K. R. Narayanan · Krishan Kant · Bhairon Singh Shekhawat · Mohammad Hamid Ansari

Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' (Hindi: सूर्यकांत त्रिपाठी 'निराला') (February 21, 1899^[1] – October 15, 1961) was one of the most famous figures of the modern Hindi literature. He was a poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer. He also drew many sketches.

Life[link]

Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', one of the most significant poets of modern Hindi, was born on February 21, 1896 in a Brahmin family of Midnapore in Bengal (originally from Unnao,Uttar Pradesh).^[2] He was also a famous poet of Hindi Kavi Sammelan. Though a student of Bengali, Nirala took keen interest in Sanskrit from the very beginning. In time, through his natural intelligence and acquired knowledge, he became an authority on various languages – Bengali, English, Sanskrit, and Hindi.

Nirala's life, barring short periods, was one long sequence of misfortunes and tragedies. His father, 'Pandit Ramsahaya Tripathi' was a government servant and was a tyrannical person. His mother died when he was very young. Nirala was educated in the Bengali medium. However, after passing matriculation exam, he continued his education at home by reading Sanskrit and English literature. Thereon he shifted to Lucknow and then to Village Gadhakola of District Unnao, to which his father originally belonged. Growing up, he took inspiration from personalities like, Ramakrishna Paramhans, Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore.

After his marriage at a young age, Nirala learnt Hindi at the insistence of his wife, 'Manohara Devi'. Soon, he started writing poems in Hindi, instead of Bengali. After a bad childhood, Nirala had few good years with his wife. But this phase was short-lived as his wife died, when he was 20, and later his daughter (who was a widow) also expired. He also went through a financial crunch. During this phase, he worked for many publishers, worked as proof-reader and also edited Samanvaya.

Most of his life was somewhat in the Bohemian tradition. Since he was more or less a rebel, both in form and content, acceptance did not come easily. What he got in plenty was ridicule and derision. All this must have played a role in making him a victim of Schizophrenia in his later life. He wrote strongly against social injustice and exploitation in the society.

Nirala died in Allahabad on 15 October 1961. The world of Hindi literature is remarkable for ideological and aesthetic divisions. But today, the same reviled Nirala is one of the very few people in Hindi literature who are admired and respected by almost all, across all divisions.

Today, a park, Nirala Uddyan, an auditorium, Nirala Prekshagrah and a Degree College - Mahapran Nirala Degree College, in the Unnao district are named after him.^[2] His life size bust has been installed at the main market square of Daraganj, Allahabad, a place where he lived for most of his life.His family still lives in Daraganj,Allahabad.

Work[link]

Nirala pioneered the Chhayavaad (छायावाद) movement along with Jaishankar Prasad, Sumitranandan Pant (सुमित्रानंदन पंत) and Mahadevi Varma (महादेवी वर्मा). Nirala's Parimal (परिमल) and Anaamika (अनामिका) are considered as the original Chhayavaadi Hindi literature. He was unrecognized during his life. His style of poetry, revolutionary for his time, often was unpublished due to its unconventional nature. He voiced his protest against exploitation through his verses. He amalgamated Vedanta, nationalism, mysticism, and love for nature and progressive humanist ideals in his works. The sources of his themes include history, religion, nature, Puranas and contemporary social and political questions. He initiated the use of blank verse in his poems. He introduced aesthetic sense, love of nature, personal viewpoint and freedom of form and content in writing which went on to become the chief tenets of Chhayawad. His multifaceted genius, which ushered in a new style of poetry, acquired him a pseudonym, Nirala (unique). His poem Saroj Smriti is one of the greatest, showing his emotions and sentiments for his daughter. Nirala is also credited with bringing in free verse in the modern Hindi prose.

His thinking was influenced by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Swami Vivekananda and in the literary field by Michael Mudhusudan Dutt and Rabindranath Tagore.

Works[link]

Poetry (काव्य)

• Dhwani
• Saroj Smriti(सरोज स्मृति)
• Parimal (परिमल)
• Anaamika (अनामिका) (1937)
• Geetika (गीतिका)
• Kukurmutta (कुकुरमुत्ता) (1941)
• Adima (आदिम)
• Bela (बेला)
• Naye Patte (नये पत्ते)
• Archana (अर्चना)
• Aradhana (आराधना)
• Tulsidas (तुलसीदास)
• Janmabhumi (जन्मभूमि)
• Jago Phir Ek Bar (जागो फिर एक बार)

Novels (उपन्यास)

• Apsara (अपसरा)
• Alka (अलका)
• Prabhavati (प्रभावती)
• Nirupama (निरुपमा)
• Chameli (चमेली)
• Choti ki Pakar (चोटी की पकड़)
• Uchchhrankhalta (उच्चारणखल्ता)
• Kale Karname (काले कारनामें)
• Deewano ki Hasti

Story-collections (कहानी संग्रह)

• Chhaturi Chamar (चतुरी चमार)
• Sukul ki Biwi (सुकुल की बीवी)
• Sakhi (सखी)
• Lily (लिली)
• Devi (देवी)

Essay-collections (निर्बंध संग्रह)

• Prabandha-Parichaya (प्रबंध परिचय)
• Prabandha-Pratibha (प्रबंध प्रतिभा)
• Bangbhasha ka Uchcharan (बंगभाषा का उच्चारण)
• Ravindra-Kavita-Kannan (रविंद्र कविता कानन)
• Prabandh-Padya (प्रबंध पद्य)
• Prabandh-Pratima (प्रबंध प्रतिमा)
• Chabuk (चाबुक)
• Chayan (छायां)
• Sangrah (संग्रह)

Prose (पद्य)

• Kullibhat (कुल्लीभात)
• Billesur Bakriha (बिल्लेसुर बकरिहा)

Translations (अनुवाद)

• Anand Math (आनंद मठ)
• Vish-Vriksh (विष वृक्ष)
• Krishna kant ka Vil (क्रष्ण कांत का विल)
• Kapal Kundala (कपाल कुण्डल)
• Durgesh Nandini (दुर्गेश नन्दिनी)
• Raj Singh (राज सिंह)
• Raj Rani (राज रानी)
• Devi Chaudharani (देवी चौधरानी)
• Yuglanguliya (युगलांगुल्य)
• Chandrasekhar (चन्द्रशेखर)
• Rajni (रजनी)
• Sri Ramkrishna Vachnamrit (श्री रामक्रष्ण वच्नाम्रत)
• Bharat Main Vivekanand (भरत में विवेकानंद)
• Rajyog (राजयोग)

Nirala's poetry in Indian cinema[link]

Nirala's poem Himmat Karne Walon Ki Har Nahi Hoti (Those who have courage never fail) was depicted as the favorite poem of the main character in Hindi film, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005) played and produced by Anupam Kher ^[3][4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nirala at Kavita Kosh - A large collection of Hindi Poetry
• vasant in Nirala's Poetry
• Translations of Nirala's poems from Hindi into Norwegian and English languages
• See all of his currently available books at Pustak.org

v t e Notable Hindi writers Rambriksh Benipuri Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Ajneya' Rahul Sankrityayan Harivansh Rai Bachchan Dharamvir Bharati Subhadra Kumari Chauhan Makhanlal Chaturvedi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Dushyant Kumar Hazari Prasad Dwivedi Maithili Sharan Gupt Acharya Kuber Nath Rai Bharatendu Harishchandra Kamleshwar Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' Sumitranandan Pant Jaishankar Prasad Munshi Premchand Mohan Rakesh Nagarjun Phanishwar Nath 'Renu' Viveki Rai Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan Acharya Shivpujan Sahay Bhisham Sahni Nathuram Sharma 'Shankar' Shivani Krishna Sobti Shivmangal Singh Suman Mahadevi Varma Pandit Nalin Vilochan Sharma Nirmal Verma Maitreyi Pushpa Vibhuti Narain Rai