Raashtra Kavi Ramdhari Singh Dinkar

 Raashtra Kavi Ramdhari Singh Dinkar

The Indian poet, Raashtra Kavi  Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, also a freedom fighter and Member of Parliament. He was born in Simaria village of Begusarai district of Bihar, on September 23, 1908, to Manroop Devi and Babu Ravi Singh. He is considered as the most successful and popular modern Hindi poet. As a mark of homage to him, his portrait was honored by Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh unveiled in the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament.

Dinkar is considered the greatest Hindi poet of ‘Veer Rasa’. His patriotic compositions written before India gained its independence from the British Raj made him known as nationlist poet. Dinkar had a very inspirational life story.

EARLY YEARS

 Born into a poor Brahmin family in Begusarai, Bihar, Dinkar was the middle child of his parents. As a student, his favorite subjects were politics, history and philosophy. He studied Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and English Literature Maithili and Bengali. Dinkar was heavily influenced by Iqbal, Rabindranath Tagore, Keats and Milton.He translated  Rabindranath Tagore's works from Bengali to Hindi. 

CAREER AND WORK

His first poems were published in 1924 in a local newspaper called "Chhatra Sahodar". On September 14, 1928 his poem about Jatin Das was published. During this time he also wrote "Meghnad-Vadh" and "Birbala", both of which have been lost.

A year later, the poet composed "Pran-Bhang". He soon brought out his first collection of poetry called Renuka, which was published in 1935. In 1946, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar published a narrative poem called "Kurukshetra" based on Santi Parva from Mahabharata. Some of his works from the late 1940s are Dhoop Chhah, Saamdheni, Baapu and Mitti ki Or. His works in 1954 included 'Dilli', 'Neel Kusum','Neem ke Patte','Reti ki Phool'and'Samar Shesh Hai'.

A year later, Dinkar came out with his main composition "Sanskriti ke Char Adhyaya". Divided into four main chapters, the poem emphasizes the spirit of unity in India despite the nation being a land of diverse cultures. 

POLITICAL CAREER

 Ramdhari Singh Dinkar entered politics when India was fighting for freedom from British rule. He initially supported the revolutionary movement but later became Gandhi.

Nevertheless, he advocated violence to a certain extent and therefore considered himself an "evil Gandhi". In addition to politics, the poet held important offices at various colleges and universities. From 1950 to 1952 he was Head of the Hindi Department at Muzaffarpur College. In 1964 and 1965 he was Vice Chancellor of Bhagalpur University.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

Ramdhari Singh Dinkar received awards from the Kashi Nagri Pracharini Sabha, Government of Uttar Pradesh as well as an award from the Government of India for his epic poem Kurukshetra. In 1959, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his Sanskrit work 'Ke Char Adhyay'. He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1959. Bhagalpur University awarded him the LLD degree.

Gurukul Mahavidyalaya congratulated him as Vidyavachaspati. He was feted as Sahitya-Chudamani on November 8, 1968, by Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur. Dinkar received the Jnanpith Award in 1972, for Urvashi. In 1952, he also became a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.

Dinkar's fans widely believe that he truly deserves the honor of "RashtraKavi" (poet of the nation). The legendary poet died on April 24, 1974.