Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'

Suryakant Tripathi (21 February 1896 – 15 October 1961), known by his nom de plume Nirala, was a poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer. He also drew many sketches.

Tripathi was born on 21 February 1896 in Midnapore in Bengal (originally from Gadhakola, Unnao, Uttar Pradesh). He participated in literary circles such as the Kavi Sammelan. Though a student of Bengali, Nirala took a keen interest in Sanskrit from the very beginning.

Nirala's life, barring short periods, was one long sequence of misfortunes and tragedies. His father, Pandit Ramsahaya Tripathi, was a government servant and was a tyrannical person. His mother died when he was very young. Nirala was educated in the Bengali medium at Mahishadal, Purba Medinipur. However, after passing the matriculation exam, he continued his education at home by reading Sanskrit and English literature. Subsequently, he shifted to Lucknow and thence to Village Gadhakola of District Unnao, to which his father originally belonged. Growing up, he gained inspiration from personalities like Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore.

After his marriage at a young age, Nirala learnt Hindi at the insistence of his wife, Manohara Devi. Soon, he started writing poems in Hindi, instead of Bengali. After a bad childhood, Nirala had a few good years with his wife. But this phase was short-lived as his wife died when he was 20, and later his daughter (who was a widow) also expired. He also went through financial troubles during this time. During that phase, he worked for many publishers, worked as proof-reader and also edited publications including Matvala and Samanvaya.

Most of his life was somewhat in the Bohemian tradition. He wrote strongly against social injustice and exploitation in society. Since he was more or less a rebel, both in form and content, acceptance did not come easily. What he got in plenty was ridicule and derision. All this may have played a role in making him a victim of schizophrenia in his later life and he was admitted to Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi. (Incidentally Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (who was later declared national poet of Bangladesh) had also been admitted to the same institute for schizophrenia.

Nirala died in Allahabad on 15 October 1961. The world of Hindi literature is remarkable for ideological and aesthetic divisions. But today, the same reviled Nirala is one of the very few people in Hindi literature who are admired and respected by almost all, across all divisions.

Today, a park, Nirala Uddyan, an auditorium, Nirala Prekshagrah, and a degree college, Mahapran Nirala Degree College, in the Unnao District are named after him. His life-size bust has been installed at the main market square of Daraganj, Allahabad, a place where he lived for most of his life. His family still lives in Daraganj, Allahabad. The road on which his modest house was situated is now named "Nirala Marg".

Many of Nirala's poems have been translated by the late scholar, David Rubin, which are available in the collections, A Season on the Earth: Selected Poems of Nirala (Columbia University Press, 1977), The Return of Sarasvati: Four Hindi Poets (Oxford University Press, 1993), and Of Love and War: A Chayavad Anthology (Oxford University Press, 2005). Nirala : Aatmhanta Astha was a critical analysis of his works written by Doodhnath Singh.

Poetry