At the age of seven, when most children learn to read and write; a little boy from the hills wrote poetry and grew up to be one of the best and most famous poets and writers in India. Born in the Kumaon Hills.
Pant was raised by his grandmother because his mother had passed away shortly after conceiving him. He had developed an early ability to write poetry. But he did not limit himself only to poetry and even ventured to write essays and works of verse.
During his career as a poet cum writer, Pant won many accolades such as the Sahitya Academy Award, the Padma Bhushan Prize, the Jnanpith Prize and the Nehru Price of Peace from the Soviet Union. Inspired by nature and beauty during the first stage of his career, Pant’s works reflect the same.
But gradually he learned to adapt and touched on many subjects such as philosophy and humanity and, at the end of it all, he came to be recognized as a great Hindu poet and one of the leaders of the Chhayavaad School of Poetry.
Early life Of Pant
Sumitranandan Pant was born on May 20, 1900, in Kausani, Bageshwar village, in the Kumaon Hills, Uttrakhand, as Gosain Dutt. Unfortunately, his mother died within hours of giving birth.
He was raised by his grandmother and was the youngest of all his seven brothers. Not very fond of his name, Dutt changed it to Sumitranandan Pant.
After enrollment, Pant went to Allahabad to earn his graduation from Allahabad University, but dropped out halfway and joined the Satyagraha Movement to support Mahatma Gandhi. However, he continued his education reading English, Sanskrit and Bengali literature at home.
Sumitranandan Pant was devoted to poetry when she was only seven years old and studying in fourth grade. After spending his childhood surrounded by the natural beauty of the mountains and the flora and fauna; it was natural that it was from here that he got his inspiration; because his previous works reflected a sublime touch of scenic serenity.
The period from 1907-1918 has even been admitted by Sumitranandan himself as the first phase of his remarkable writing career.
It was from there that he broadened his horizon and began to write in broader contexts. There was an undeniable influence after the visit to Sri Aurobindo and the result was evident in the poems he was writing at the time.
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The inspiration for Aurobindo’s philosophy, however, was staggering. Pant had moved from mysticism to Marxism and began to include a more human theme in his writings.
Little by little, he included progressive, philosophical, socialist and humanist poems in his repertoire. In 1960 Pant received a Sahitya Academy Award for “Kala and Burha Chand” (a compilation of all the poems he wrote in 1958).
In 1961, he received a Padma Bhushan Prize and a Jnanpith Prize in 1968 for his most famous poems “Chidambara”. He even received the Nehru Peace Prize from the Soviet Union for “Lokayatan”.
Awards And Nomination
In 1968 Pant received the Jnanpith Prize, which is the highest literary prize in India. He was the first Hindu poet to receive this award. It was for his Chidambara poetry collection.
For Pant goes the honour of composing the hymn of the Institute of the Indian Roorkee Institute of Technology, Jayati Jayati Vidya Sansthan.
Death Of Great Indian Poet
Pant died on December 28, 1977, in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, India. His father’s house in Kausani has been converted into a museum. Your articles for daily use, drafts of poems, letters, prizes, etc. are exhibited in the museum.
Pant’s poems have been translated into several languages, and he remains a highly influential voice in the domains of Indian poetry.
