Harivanshrai Bachchan

1. In 1941 Bachchan began teaching English at Allahabad University, some ten years later an opportunity arose to apply for study in England. Although the principal objective was to study English teaching methodology, Bachchan saw it as an opportunity to complete his previous studies on the Irish poet WB Yeats. His acceptance at Cambridge may well have rested more on his popular acclaim rather than his academic studies, but whilst at Cambridge he exc .....

Honors

2. Bachchan was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, in 1966 and received many honours for his contribution to Hindi and Asian literature. In 2003, an Indian postage stamp was released in his memory. The enduring popularity and influence of Bachchan was evident at his funeral in January 2003. Thousands of people attended his funeral procession, and tributes were paid by politicians, industrialists and Bollywood sta .....

Trivia

3. At present, more people may know Bachchan as being father to Indias best known film actor, Amitabh Bachchan, than know his reputation as a poet.The creator of the great collection Madhushala is often thought to be a great admirer of wonder solutions himself. It is wrongly believed that the creator of one of the most famous poems on wine (Madhushala) never drank liquor. In reality, he had never drank liquor till the time he completed Madhushala. .....

Childhood

4. Harivansh Rai Bachchan Srivastav was born in the year 1907 in the village Babupatti near Allahabad in a Kayastha family to Pratap Narayan Shrivastav and Saraswati Devi. He was their eldest born. As a child, he was fondly called bachchan because of his child like ways. The moniker stuck with him, thus becoming one of the most recognizable names. .....

Early Life

5. Harivansh Rai Bachchan started his education from a municipal school. It was the same time that he also started learning Urdu from Kayasth Paathshaalas. Later, he pursued his higher education from Allahabad University and Banaras Hindu University. In 1941 he joined the English department of Allahabad University as a faculty and taught there till 1952. He then went to Cambridge for two years to do his doctoral thesis on W.B Yeats and occultism, be .....

Later Life

6. Harivansh Rai Bachchan later moved on to Delhi in 1955 to join the External Affairs Ministry as a Special Officer in the Hindi cell, translating official documents into Hindi. He served for a period of ten years. During this time, he also worked on promoting Hindi as the official language of India as well as translating some of the major works into Hindi like Macbeth, Othello, Bhagvad Gita, the works of W.B Yeats and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. .....

Works

7. Harivansh Rai Bachchan is best remembered for his 142 verse lyrical poem Madhushala (The House of Wine), which was published in 1935. This work catapulted him as the foremost Hindi poet and was subsequently, translated into English and a number of Indian languages. The poem became a craze and was even performed on stage. Madhushala was a part of his poetic trilogy, the other two being Madhubaala and Madhukalash. It is on this trilogy that his fam .....

Awards And Recognition

8. In 1966, Harivansh Rai Bachchan was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and in 1969 he received the Sahitya Akademi Award. Seven years later the Government of India bestowed on him the Padma Bhushan in recognition for his contribution to Hindi literature. In addition he was also awarded the Sovietland Nehru Award, the Lotus Award of the Afro Asian writers conference and the Saraswati Samman. The Uttar Pradesh government conferred him the Yash Bharati Sa .....

Timeline

9. 1907 Harivansh Rai Bachchan was born in a Kayastha family in Uttar Pradesh. 1926 Married his first wife. 1935 Madhushala, his seminal work, was published. 1941 Became a faculty of the English department in Allahabad University and marries a second time. 1953 Went to Cambridge to pursue his doctoral thesis. 1955 Joined the Hindi Cell of the External Affairs ministry. 1984 Published his last poem. 1966 Nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house .....

Teaching career

10. From 1941 to 1952 he taught English Literature at Allahabad University and then spent two years at Cambridge University, at St Catharines College. There he studied with the famous English literature don, Thomas Rice Henn, and received a doctorate in English Literature for his work on the Irish poet W.B. Yeats and Occultism. It was there that he used Bachchan as his last name instead of Srivastava. He was the second Indian to get his doctorate in .....

Autobiography

11. I finally finished reading the 4th part of Harivansh Rai Bachchans Autobiography Dashdwaar Se Sopaan Tak. I first came across his autobiography in an exhibition when I was looking for something to read in Hindi. I had read his Madhushala but I was not aware of the autobiography. When I saw that it was in four volumes, I was not sure whether i am going to read it completely, but still decided to take the first volume Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon. .....

Popular culture

12. One of his inspirational poems, Agneepath (Path of fire), was used as the theme (and its title as the title) for the 1991 blockbuster movie featuring his actor son Amitabh Bachchan, as a ruthless mafia don. This movie was a failure commercially but earned Amitabh Bachchan a National Award for his performance. You can see Amitabh narrating the poem through out the movie.The poem describes the entire gamut of sufferings that the human race had gone .....

The dominant planets

13. When interpreting a natal chart, the best method is to start gradually from general features to specific ones. Thus, there is usually a plan to be followed, from the overall analysis of the chart and its structure, to the description of its different character traits.In the first part, an overall analysis of the chart enables us to figure out the personalitys main features and to emphasize several points that are confirmed or not in the detailed .....

Your sensitivity

14. You seek other peoples attention and approval, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, you need to exteriorize your emotions, to interpret them, and even to dramatically enact them because it is essential for you to shine at the front of the stage. You always try to achieve more and better than anyone else and, whatever the situation may be, you strive to remain warm, generous, loyal, honest, straightforward and courageous. You are always available when your ass .....

Your intellect and your social life

15. You are the very type of the researcher endowed with great intellectual and imaginative capacities, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, and your curiosity is very deep. Researches, riddles and mysteries appeal to you and with a remarkable sixth sense and intuition, you endlessly try to unearth the truth, in all areas, like a psychoanalyst or a detective. You are a very secretive and introverted person, you find it difficult to open up and you rather prefer p .....

Death

16. At the age of 95, in 2003, Harivansh Rai Bachchan breathed his last. He was suffering from respiratory ailments. Four years later his wife passed away at the age of 93. .....