Jaishankar Prasad facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jaishankar Prasad
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| Born | 30 January 1889 Benares, Benares State, British India |
| Died | 15 November 1937 (aged 47) Benares, Benares State, British India |
| Occupation | Novelist, playwright, poet |
| Notable works | Kāmāyanī (1936) |
| Parent | Babu Devki Prasad (father) |
Jaishankar Prasad (30 January 1889 – 15 November 1937) was a prominent figure in modern Hindi literature as well as Hindi theatre. Prasad was his pen name. He was also known as Chhayavadi kavi.
Contents
Poetic style
Prasad started writing poetry with the pen name of ‘Kaladhar’. The first collection of poem that Prasad penned, named, Chitradhar, was written in Braj dialect of Hindi but his later works were written in Khadi dialect or Sanskritized Hindi.
Later on Prasad promulgated ‘Chhayavad’, a literary trend in Hindi literature.
He is considered one of the Four Pillars (Char Stambh) of Romanticism in Hindi Literature (Chhayavad), along with Sumitranandan Pant, Mahadevi Verma, and Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'.
His vocabulary avoids the Persian element of Hindi and mainly consists of Sanskrit (Tatsama) words and words derived from Sanskrit (Tadbhava words). The subject of his poetry spans the entire horizon of subjects of his era, from romantic to nationalistic.
Dramas and other writings
His dramas are considered to be most pioneering ones in Hindi. Prasad's most famous dramas include Skandagupta,Chandragupta and Dhruvaswamini . Many children like him as he gives us a knowledge about Ancient times.
The majority of them revolve around historical stories of Ancient India. Some of them were also based on mythological plots.
In 1960s, Shanta Gandhi Professor of Ancient Indian Drama while at National School of Drama, revived interest in Jaishankar Prasad's plays for modern Indian theatre, by successfully staging his most important play Skanda Gupta written in 1928, with little changes to the original script.
Major works
Poetry
- Kānan kusum (The Forest Flower)(1913)
- Mahārānā kā mahatv (The Maharana's greatness)(1914)
- Jharnā (The Waterfall)(1918)
- Ānsū (The tear)(1925)
- Lahar (The wave)(1933)
- Kāmāyanī (an epic about Manu and the flood)(1935/36)
- Prem pathik (The Love Wanderer)(1914)
- Aatmkathya (Autobiography)
Drama
- Ek Ghoont (A sip)
- Skandagupta (On Emperor Skandagupta)
- Chandragupta (On Emperor Chandragupta Maurya)
- Dhruvasvāminī
- Rajyashrī (Royal Bliss)
- Ajatashatru
- Janmejay ka Naag-Yagy
Story collections
- Aandhī
- Pratidhvani (The Echo)
- Akashdeep (Internal Lamp)
- Indrajāl (Hypnosis)
- Sandeh (Doubt)
- Daasi (Maid)
- Chitra Mandir
- Rasiya Balam
Novels
- Kankal (The Skeleton)
- Titli (The Butterfly)
- Iravati ( not completed)
Poetic drama
- Karunalay
Legacy
Neo-romanticism in Hindi Literature
Jaishankar Prasad's Kamayani (Hindi: कामायनी) (1936), a Hindi classic poem is considered as an important magnum opus of this school. The poem belongs to the Chhayavadi school of Hindi poetry.
See also
- List of Indian writers
