New Delhi, August 2: Maithilisharan Gupta was born on August 3, 1886, near Jhansi in Chirgaon, Uttar Pradesh. His parents affectionately named him ‘Mithiladhip Nandansharan.’ However, when he was enrolled in school, this lengthy name could not fit into the attendance register. Consequently, the teacher shortened it to ‘Maithilisharan’ for convenience. Born into a wealthy Gahoi Vaishya family, the surname ‘Gupta’ naturally followed.
Due to a lack of interest in formal schooling, his father, Seth Ramcharan, arranged for him to study Sanskrit, English, and Bengali at home. His poetic sensibilities were inherited from his father, who wrote poetry under the pen name ‘Kankalata.’ In his childhood, Maithilisharan Gupta wrote romantic poems under the pseudonyms ‘Swarnalata’ and ‘Rasikesh’ and ‘Rasikendu’ during his teenage years. These romantic poems depicted themes of love, beauty, attraction, and the union or separation of heroes and heroines.
A pivotal moment in his literary journey occurred when he submitted his romantic poems under the name ‘Rasik’ to the renowned editor of the magazine ‘Saraswati,’ Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi. Dwivedi not only rejected the poems for publication but also reprimanded him in a stern letter, stating that writing such frivolous romantic works during a politically tumultuous time was utterly pointless. This criticism prompted Maithilisharan Gupta to abandon the ‘Rasik’ pseudonym and, under Dwivedi’s guidance, take a transformative step towards using the standard dialect instead of the traditional sweetness of Braj Bhasha.
At a time when most poets were captivated by Braj Bhasha, Gupta tirelessly worked to establish the standard dialect as a refined and powerful poetic language. His timeless work ‘Bharat-Bharati,’ published in 1912, ignited a new flame of nationalism among the oppressed Indian populace. The piece poignantly depicted the country’s glorious past, its declining present, and an optimistic future, becoming an unspoken manifesto for freedom fighters overnight. Due to this impact, Mahatma Gandhi honored him with the title of ‘Rashtrakavi’ around 1936.
To evade British oppression, he also wrote sharp nationalist poems under pseudonyms like ‘Nityanand’ and ‘Bhartiya.’ Among his notable works is ‘Bharat-Bharati,’ published in 1912, which was frequently cited during the freedom struggle. In 1931, his epic ‘Saket’ was released, portraying the psychological anguish of Urmila’s separation and sacrifice. For this work, he received the prestigious ‘Mangalaprasad Puraskar’ from the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in 1937.
His epic ‘Saket’ gave a new and powerful voice to Urmila, who had long been overlooked in the Indian epic tradition. Similarly, in his other timeless piece ‘Yashodhara’ (1932), he depicted the poignant situation of Mahatma Buddha’s wife.
From April 3, 1952, to April 2, 1964, he served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, often expressing his views on contemporary issues in poetic form. In 1954, he was honored with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions to literature and education. This great literary figure passed away on December 12, 1964.
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