(c) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas
FOR INDIANS AND THE WORLD COMMUNITY – BHARATENDU HARISHCHANDRA WAS THE FATHER OF THE MODERN HINDI LITERATURE, HINDI THEATRE AND REPRESENTATIVE OF ‘ALL LANGUAGES’ OF THE WORLD.
FOR THE PEOPLE OF BIHAR – MOST OF THE WORKS OF BHARATENDU HARISCHANDRA HAD BEEN PUBLISHED FROM KHADGVILAS PRESS, BANKIPORE, IN PATNA AND THE CONNECTING LINK WAS SRI CHAITANYA MANDIR AND CHAITANYA PUSTAKALAYA, GAI GHAT, PATNA. AND HIS ‘TREASURE TROVE’ AT PATNA HAS PRESERVED ALL THE WORKS OF BHARATENDU AND OTHER WRITERS OF HIIS TIME.
The unforgettable quote of Bharatendu Harishchandra about the ‘MOTHER TONGUE’ written by him reflects his progressive world view, devoid of conservatism of the time, and puts him as the REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD -
“निज भाषा उन्नति अहै, सब उन्नति को मूल ।
बिन निज भाषा-ज्ञान के, मिटत न हिय को सूल ।।
विविध कला शिक्षा अमित, ज्ञान अनेक प्रकार।
सब देसन से लै करहू, भाषा माहि प्रचार ।।“
[“Progress is made in one's own language (the mother tongue), as it the foundation of all progress.
Without the knowledge of the mother tongue, there is no cure for the pain of heart.
Many arts and education infinite, knowledge of various kinds.
Should be taken from all countries, but propagated in the mother tongue.”]
- Bharatendu Harishchandra, ‘Taken from his famous poem, मातृ-भाषा के प्रति (For the Sake of Mother-Tongue or Towards Mother-Tongue)’
BRIEF LIFE SKETCH OF BHARATENDU HARISHCHANDRA – FATHER OF THE MODERN HINDI LITERATURE, HINDI THEATRE AND REPRESENTATIVE OF ‘ALL LANGUAGES’ OF THE WORLD
Baratendu Haris literature and the Hindi theatre, was born in the Benares at 9th September in the year 1850. After serving a lot for the modern Hindi literature for 35 years, he died at 6th January in the year 1885. He was a recognized poet for his great works and renowned as one of the supreme Hindi writers, novelists and playwrights of the modern India. He was a trendsetter in Hindi prose-writing. He was an author of several dramas, biographical sketches and travelogues; he used new media like reports, publications, letters to the editor, books on history and antiquities, translations and literary works to shape public opinion. He was an influential Hindu "traditionalist", using Vaishnava devotionalism to define a coherent Hindu religion.
He wrote some 3,000 devotional songs and was possibly the first Hindi poet to practice his craft in ‘KHARIBOLI’, which later swept BRAJA BHASA out of existence.
He was the master in the several languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Marwari, Punjabi etc. It is considered that he had started composing poetry, when he was five years old.
He always tried to represent the India’s poverty, sufferings of the people, human need and dependency, cruel exploitation and the middle class conflictions through his great writings such as the journalism, several dramas, essays, poetry and short stories. He also sketched his thoughts for the development of the country. He has created new literature by focusing on the old literatures. He always wrote by his pen name, the ‘Rasa’.
BHARATENDU HARISHCHANDRA WAS THE FATHER OF THE MODERN HINDI LITERATURE, HINDI THEATRE AND REPRESENTATIVE OF ‘ALL LANGUAGES’ OF THE WORLD
1. Born in Banaras, Bharatendu Harishchandra's father Gopal Chandra was a poet. He wrote under the pseudonym Girdhar Das. Bharatendu's parents died when he was young but they seem to have had an influence on him.
2. Acharya Ramchandra Shukla has described how Bharatendu went to the Jagannath temple in Puri, Orissa with his family in 1865, when he was merely 15 years of age. During this trip he was influenced by the Bengal Renaissance and decided to bring the genres of social, historical, and Puranic plays and novels into Hindi. This influence reflected in his Hindi translation of the Bengali drama Vidyasundar, three years later, in 1868.
3. Bharatendu devoted his life to the development of Hindi literature.
4. In recognition of his services as a writer, patron and moderniser, the title of "Bharatendu" was conferred on him at a public meeting by scholars of Kashi in 1880.
5. Reputed literary critic Ram Vilas Sharma refers to the "great literary awakening ushered in under Bharatendu's leadership" as the "second storey of the edifice of renascent Hindi", the first being the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
6. Bharatendu Harishchandra made major contributions in the fields of journalism, drama, and poetry.
7. He edited the magazines Kavi Vachan Sudha in 1868 into this magazine he requested Indian people first to use Indian made products or Swadeshi Apnao in March 1874, in 1873 Harishchandra Magazine , Harishchandra Patrika and Bal Vodhini.
8. He was a member of the Chowdhury family of Varanasi belonging to the Agrawal community and his home there is still in use. His ancestors were landlords in Bengal.
9. He had one daughter. He wrote the widely mentioned history of the Agrawal community.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India gives Bharatendu Harishchandra Awards since 1983 to promote original writings in Hindi mass communication.
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN HINDU RADICALISTS AND HINDU TRADITIONALISTS VIS-A-VIS BHARATENDU’S PHILOSOPHY AND WORLD VIEW
1. According to Barbara and Thomas R. Metcalf, Bharatendu Harishchandra is considered an influential example of Hindu "traditionalist" in north India, typifying continuity with received tradition and self-conscious participation with the modern world.
2. He was typical of those Indians who engaged with Western institutions and learning: They refused to leave authority over religion to Brahmans who were traditionally educated. He used new media, especially publications to shape public opinion.
3. Harishchandra was also typical of revivalists of Hindi Literature which were closely connected with Hindu revivalist movements. He "combined pleas for use of Swadeshi articles with demands for replacement of Urdu by Hindi in courts and a ban on cow slaughter".
4. He used Vaishnava devotionalism to define a coherent Hindu religion, with a base in the Kashi Dharma Sabha, started in the 1860s by the Maharaja of Benares as a response to more radical Hindu reformist movements.
5. Harishchandra insisted on the value of image worship and interpreted Bhakti as devotion to a single god; this was in response to Orientalist and Christian critiques of Hinduism.
Hence, Bharatendu Harishchandra was midway between Radicalists and Puritans within the Hindu ideologue and tried to usher western ideas and thoughts through Vaishnavite devotionalism. Though, Bharatendu identified himself with Hindu revivalist movement but his direct involvement with the progressive literature of the time and his continuous experimentation within the society has made him ‘A CLASS APART’ from other personalities of the time and he developed a progressive mindset, much ahead of his time.
SOME OF HIS MAJOR WORKS
Drama
Bharatendu Harishchandra entered theatre activity as an actor and soon become director, manager, and playwright. He used theatre as a tool to shape public opinion. His major plays are:
Drama:
1. Vaidik Hinsa Hinsa Na Bhavati in 1873.
2. Sahitya Harishchandra in 1876.
3. Bharat durdasha in 1875.
4. Satya Harishchandra.
5. Chandrawali in 1881.
6. Shri Chandrawali in 1876.
7. Prem Yogini.
8. Dhananjay Vijay.
9. Mudra Rakshas.
10. Neeldevi in 1881.
11. Andher nagari (City of Darkness) in 1881 (अंधेर नगरी): A popular play of modern Hindi drama and a political satire. Translated and performed in many Indian languages by prominent Indian directors like B. V. Karanth, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur and Sanjay Upadyaye.
Poetry
1. Bhagat sarvagya
2. Prem malika (1872)
3. Prem Maduri (1875)
4. Prem Tarang (1877), Prem Pralap, Prem fuhalwari (1883) and Prem Srowar
5. Holi (होली)(1874)
6. Madhu Mukul (मधुमुकुल) (1881)
7. Raag Sangraah (राग-संग्रह, 1880)
8. Varsha Vinod (वर्षा-1950 5455विनोद, 1880)
9. Vinya Prem Pachassa (विनय प्रेम पचासा, 1881)
10. Pholo ka Guchha (फूलों का गुच्छा, 1882)
11. Chandravali in 1876, and Krishan Charitra (कृष्णचरित्र, 1883)
12. Utraradh Bhagat Mal (उत्तरार्द्ध भक्तमाल, 1876–77)
Translations:
1. Karpoor Manjari from Prakrat.
2. Harsha Ratnavali, Visakhadattas Mudra Rakshasa and Vidya Sundar from Bengali.
3. Durlabh Bandhu from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.
Journals:
1. Kavivachan Sudha
2. Balabodhini Patrika
3. Harish Chandra Chandrika
4. Hagwadbhaktitoshini
Essay:
Bharatendu Granthawali in 1885
REFERENCES AND EXCERPTS
1. Modern India by, 1885 – 1947 by Sumit Sarkar (1983, Macmillan)
2. Wikepedia
3. A concise History of India, Barbara and Thomas Metcalf (2002, Cambridge University Press)
4. Records taken from ‘KashiBanarasVaranasi.com’
5. HT Patna Live, March 14, 2002
(c) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas
No comments:
Post a Comment