Bihari Lal Chaube | |
|---|---|
 'The Poet Bihari Offers Homage to Radha and Krishna', attributed to Nainsukh, ca.1760–65 | |
| Born | 1595 (1595) |
| Died | 1663 (aged 67–68) |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Period | Riti Kaal |
| Literary movement | Ritikaal |
Bihari Lal Chaube orBihārī (1595–1663)[1] was a Hindi poet, who is famous for writing theSatasaī (Seven Hundred Verses) inBrajbhasha, a collection of approximately seven hundreddistichs, which is perhaps the most celebrated Hindi work of poeticart, as distinguished fromnarrative and simpler styles.[2] Today it is considered the most well known book of the Ritikavya Kaal or 'Riti Kaal'(an era in which poets wrote poems for kings)[3] ofHindi literature.[4]
The language is the form of Hindi calledBrajbhasha, spoken in the country aboutMathura, where the poet lived. The couplets are inspired by theKrishna side ofVishnu-worship, and the majority of them take the shape of amorous utterances ofRadha, the chief of theGopis or cowherd maidens ofBraj, and her divine lover, the son ofVasudeva. Each couplet is independent and complete in itself. The distichs, in their collected form, are arranged, not in any sequence of narrative or dialogue, but according to the technical classification of the sentiments which they convey as set forth in the treatises on Indian rhetoric.[2]
Bihari was born inGwalior in 1595, and spent his boyhood inOrchha in theBundelkhand region, where his father, Keshav Rai lived. After marriage he settled with in-law's inMathura. His father was Keshav Rai.[2]
Early in his life, he studied ancient Sanskrit texts. In Orchha state, he met the famous poet keshavdas from whom he took lessons in poetry. Later, when he had shifted to Mathura, he got an opportunity to present his in court of visiting Mughal EmperorShah Jahan, who immediately got impressed by his work and invited him to stay in Agra.
Once at Agra, he learnt Persian language and came into contact withRahim, another famous poet. It was also at Agra that RajaJai Singh I (ruled. 1611–1667), ofAmber, near Jaipur, happened to hear him, and invited him over to Jaipur, and it was here that he composed his greatest work,Satasai.[1] After the death of his wife Bihari followed the path ofBhakti &Vairagya. He left the court & went toVrindavan, where he died in the year 1663.
One of the famousDohas (couplet) written by Bihārī is:
Satsaiya ke dohre jyun navak ke teer
Dekhan men chote lage ghaav kare gambhir.
The couplets of (Bihari's) Satsai are like the arrows of a hunter,
they look small but cut deep.
Though Bihari 'Satasai' is only known work of Bihari, an estimation in which the work is held may be measured by the number of commentators who have devoted themselves to its elucidation, of whom DrG. A. Grierson mentions seventeen. The collection has also twice been translated intoSanskrit.
The best-known commentary is that ofLallu Lal, entitled theLala-chandrika. The author was employed byDr. John Gilchrist in theCollege of Fort William, where he finished his commentary in 1818. A critical edition of it has been published byDr G. A. Grierson (Calcutta, Government of India Press, 1896).
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lyall, Charles James (1911). "Bihārī-Lāl". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 927.