Sumitranandan Pant | |
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| Born | (1900-05-20)20 May 1900 |
| Died | 28 December 1977(1977-12-28) (aged 77) |
| Occupation | Writer, poet |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | Hindi Literature |
| Subject | Sanskrit |
| Notable awards | Padma Bhushan (1961) Jnanpith Award (1968) |
 Literature portal | |
Sumitranandan Pant (20 May 1900 – 28 December 1977)[1] was an Indian poet. He was one of the most celebrated 20th century poets of theHindi language and was known for romanticism in his poems which were inspired by nature, people and beauty within.[2]
His father served as the manager of a local tea garden, and was also a landholder, so Pant was never in want financially growing up. He grew up in the same village and always cherished a love for the beauty and flavor of rural India, which is evident in all his major works.
Pant enrolled in Queens College in Banaras in 1918. There he began reading the works ofSarojini Naidu andRabindranath Tagore, as well as English Romantic poets. These figures would all have a powerful influence on his writing.[2] In 1919 he moved toAllahabad to study at Muir College. As an anti-British gesture he only attended for two years. He then focused more on poetry, publishingPallav in 1926. This collection established him as a literary giant of the Hindi renaissance that had begun withJaishankar Prasad. In the introduction to the book, Pant expressed dissatisfaction that Hindi speakers "think in one language and express themselves in another."[2] He felt thatBraj was out of date and sought to help usher in a new national language.
Pant moved toKalakankar in 1931. For nine years he lived a secluded life close to nature. Simultaneously he grew enamored with the works and thinking ofKarl Marx andMahatma Gandhi, dedicating several verses to them in the poetry he produced during this time.[1] Pant returned to Almora in 1941 where he attended drama classes at the Uday Shankar Cultural Centre. He also readSri Aurobindo'sThe Life Divine, which heavily influenced him. Three years later he moved toMadras and then toPondicherry, attending Aurobindo's ashram. In 1946 he returned to Allahabad to resume his role among the country's other leading writers.
He is considered one of the major poets of theChhayavaadi school of Hindi literature.[1] Pant mostly wrote inSanskritized Hindi. Pant authored twenty-eight published works including poetry, verse plays and essays.
Apart fromChhayavaadi poems, Pant also wrote progressive, socialist, humanist poems and[3]philosophical (influenced bySri Aurobindo) poems. Pant eventually moved beyond this style. As the late scholar and translator of Pant,David Rubin, writes, "In the early forties the new psychological and experimental "schools" were emerging. It was typical of bothNirala and Pant that they themselves anticipated these trends and, by the time the new approaches were in vogue, they had already moved on to newer areas of experimentation."[2]
Mahapran Nirala once remarked:
The most powerful thing in Pant Ji is that, like Shelley, he makes his composition mellifluous and tender by enriching it with numerous similes and metaphors.
— Mahapran Nirala,[1]
In 1960, Pant received theSahitya Academy award, given by India's Academy of Letters, forKala Aur Budhdha Chand.[1]
In 1968, Pant became the first Hindi poet to receive theJnanpith Award, considered to be India's highest accolade for literature. This was awarded to him for a collection of his most famous poems titledChidambara.[1][4]
The Indian Government honored him withPadma Bhushan in 1961.[5][1]
Sumitra Nandan Pant composed the Kulgeet of theIndian Institute of Technology Roorkee " -Jayati Vidya Sansthan".
Pant died on 28 December 1977, at Allahabad (Prayagraj),Uttar Pradesh, India. His childhood house inKausani has been converted into a museum. This museum displays his daily use articles, drafts of his poems, letters, his awards,books,stories etc.
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