Jaishankar Prasad
| Jaishankar Prasad | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
30 January 1890 Varanasi, India |
| Died | 15 November 1937 (aged 47) Varanasi, India |
| Occupation | Novelist, playwright, poet |
Jaishankar Prasad (30 January 1890 – 15 November 1937) is one of the most famous figures in modern Hindi literature as well as Hindi theatre. In her glowing tribute to Jai Shankar Prasad, the poet- critic Mahadevi Verma says: “Whenever I remember our great poet, Prasad a particular image comes to my mind. A fir tree stands on the slope of the Himalaya, straight and tall as the proud mountain peaks themselves. Its lofty head braves the assaults of the snow, the rain, and the blazing heat of the sun. Violent storms shake its spreading branches, while a thin stream of water plays hide-and-seek amongst its root. Even under the most heavy snowfall, the most fierce heat, and the torrential rain, the fir tree holds its head high. Even in the midst of the worst thunderstorm and blizzards, it remains steady and unflinching.”
This compliment from a younger contemporary of Prasad summarizes in a condensed form the literary genius of one of the leading lights of chhayavad movement in Hindi literature. It recognizes Prasad’s place among his peers as well as his relevance to modernity. As author of a classic epic of the human psyche, his magnum opus Kamayani, Prasad had acquired early eminence. But later his multifaceted personality burgeoned in his contribution to diverse fields of literature in spite of countless storms of personal tragedies, and national social and political upheavals. Since brought up in the affluent family of a tobacco merchant, Prasad was a man of personal charm and of romantic disposition. By temperament a reformer and humanitarian, through his devotion to literature he became a lyric poet, a dramatist, a story writer, and essayist. Thus Prasad emerged as a literary genius. It would be no exaggeration if we rank him with such literary stalwarts as Kalidas, Tulsidas, Shakespeare, Dante, and Goethe in view of his vision and aesthetic consciousness.
The eminent Hindi Writer-poet Shri Jai Shankar Prasad was born on 30 January 1890, in an aristocratic madhesia gupta family of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Prasad ji was youngest son of his father Babu Devi Prasad who was a tobacco manufacturer. His family was an elite unites in Varanasi, popular as “Sunghani Sahu”.
Prasad ji received his early education at the private elementary school of Mohini Lal 'Rasmayasidh', himself an amateur poet. At the age of 10, Prasad ji was admitted to Queens College, Varanasi for formal education. The following year, he accompanied his parents on pilgrimage to visit such known religion places as Ganga Sagar, Bhuvaneshvar, Jagannath Puri and Onkareshvar. Prasad ji spent his adolescence in the cultivation of his physical as well as mental faculties - wrestling, exercising, and eating wholesome food on the one hand, and studying Sanskrit, Pali, English and Persian the other.
...
Wikipedia