Harivansh Rai Bachchan
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| Harivansh rai Bachchan | |
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| Born | Harivansh Rai Bachchan Shrivastav 27 November 1907 Allahabad, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British Raj (now in Uttar Pradesh, India) |
| Died | 18 January 2003 (aged 95) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Occupation | Poet, writer |
| Alma mater | St Catharine's College, Cambridge |
| Spouse(s) | Shyama (1926–1936) Teji Bachchan (1941–2007) |
| Children | Amitabh Bachchan, Ajitabh Bachchan |
Personal life and education
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2011) |
Realizing that this was not the path he wanted to follow, he went back to the university. However from 1941 to 1952 he taught in the English Department at the Allahabad University and after that he spent the next two years at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, Cambridge University doing his doctoral thesis on W.B. Yeats. It was then, that he used ‘Bachchan’ as his last name instead of Srivastava. Harivanshrai’s thesis got him his PhD at Cambridge. He is the second Indian to get his doctorate in English literature from Cambridge. After returning to India he again took to teaching and also served at All India Radio, Allahabad.
In 1926, at the age of 19, Bachchan married his first wife, Shyama, who was then 14 years old. However she died ten years later in 1936 after a long spell of TB at just 24 years of age. Bachchan again married, Teji Bachchan, in 1941. They had two sons, Amitabh and Ajitabh.
In 1955, Harivanshrai shifted to Delhi to join the External Affairs Ministry as an officer on Special duty and during the period of 10 years that he served he was also associated with the evolution of Hindi as the official language. He also enriched Hindi through his translations of major writings. As a poet he is famous for his poem Madhushala (a bar selling alcoholic drinks). Besides Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, he will also be remembered for his Hindi translations of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Othello and also the Bhagvad Gita. However in Nov 1984 he wrote his last poem ‘Ek November1984’ on Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
Harivanshrai was nominated to the Indian Rajya Sabha in 1966 and government gave him the Sahitya Akademi award three years later. In 1976 he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan for his immense contribution to Hindi literature. He was also honoured with the Saraswati Samman, the Sovietland Nehru Award and the Lotus Award of the Afro-Asian writers’ conference, for his unique contribution to the world of letters. But if ever asked to introduce himself, he had a simple introduction: Mitti ka tan, masti ka man, kshan-bhar jivan — mera parichay. (A body of clay, a mind full of play, a moment’s life - that is me.).
Bachchan died on January 18, 2003, at the age of 95, as a result of various respiratory ailments.[2] His wife Teji Bachchan died six years later in 2007, at the age of 93.
Career
Teaching career
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (November 2011) |
After returning to India, he taught briefly and then worked as a producer for All India Radio, Mumbai. In 1955, he moved to Delhi to join the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India and there he was closely involved with the evolution of Hindi as the official language of India.
Bachchan used to introduce himself as
| “ | Mitti ka tan, masti ka man, kshan-bhar jivan– mera parichay. (मिट्टी का तन, मस्ती का मन, क्षण भर जीवन, मेरा परिचय) (A body of clay, a mind full of play, a second of life - that's me) |
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List of works
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