Early Life

Suryakant Tripathi Nirala was born on February 21, 1896 in an orthodox Brahmin family settled in the Midnapore district of Bengal. Suryakant Tripathis parents were originally from the Unnao region of Uttar Pradesh but were settled in Bengal for a fairly long time. Suryakant Tripathis father Pandit Ramasahaya Tripathi was a very strict person by nature and liked to keep his entire family under his own control. He was a government servant by profession and the money he earned would often be less than what was required for the existence of the entire family. Therefore, it will not be unfair to say that Suryakant Tripathi also knew the meaning of poverty during his lifetime. It was on the insistence of Pandit Ramasahaya Tripathi that Tripathi got enrolled in a Bengali medium school. But it was the Sanskrit language which interested him the most and he would often read books in Sanskrit, Hindi and English. Suryakanth Tripathis mother died when he was still very young, leaving him to tackle his tyrannical father alone.