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Hindi
literature as a whole can be divided into four stages:
Adikal (the Early Period),
Bhaktikal
(the Devotional Period),
Ritikal
(the Scholastic Period) and
Adhunikkal
(the Modern Period).
Adikal
starts from the middle of the 10th century to the
beginning of the 14th century. The poetry of this
period either highlights certain religious ideologies or praises
the heroic deeds of the Rajput rulers and warriors in the form of
verse-narratives (raso-kavyas).
The earliest poetry of this period is represented by the
Apabhramsha
poetry, which includes the Siddha literature (750-1200 A.D.),
the Nath literature and the Jain literature. Siddha literature was
written in the popular language and this echoed devotional themes
combined with a strong erotic feeling. The Nath literature
represents the mystico-devotional poetry, written between the 7th
and the 14th century by the poet Gorakhnath (c.1150 A.D.)
and his followers, using the
doha
(couplet) and the
chaupai
(quartet)
styles in their poems. The
padas
and
vanis of these
saints had a great influence on the Sant literature of the
later-day mystic poets like Kabir, Nanak and Dadu Dayal. During
this period Jain poets like Swayambhu, Som Datt Suri, Sharang Dhar
and Nalla Singh composed the
Charit Kavyas, which propagate moral tenets and portrayals of
nature. Heroic Poetry was an integral part of the Hindi literature
of the
Adikal period.
Several
raso-kavyas were
produced during this period which include Chand Bardai's
Prithviraj
Raso, Dalpativijay's
Khuman
Raso, Narpati Nalha's
Visaldev
Raso and Jagnik's
Parmal
Raso.
The
period between the 14th and the 17th
century, known as the
Bhakti
Kal or the Devotional Period, witnessed the rise of
Bhakti
Kavyas or devotional poetry. This form of poetry has been
divided into two schools:
Nirguna
and
Saguna Schools
depending upon the devotional attitude of the poets towards the
Lord. The Nirgunas believed in a formless god, while the
Sagunas believed in a human incarnation of god. The
Nirgunas
have been further divided into two groups on the basis of the
different
sadhanas
(disciplines) followed by them. Kabir (1399-1518 A.D.) was the most
important poet of the
Nirguna
School. Kabir, along with Guru Nanak, Dharma Das, Maluk Das,
Dadudayal, Sunder Das, are the poets who emphasised on the
importance of knowledge for the realisation of God, and were
called the Saint poets. They advocated monotheism through their
Sakhis
(couplets) and
Padas
(songs). Another important group of the Nirguna Poets is the Sufi
poets, who believed that love was the path of realising God.
Jayasi, Manjhan, Kutuban and Usman were the pioneers of this
school.
The Saguna
poets are either the followers of Lord Rama or Lord Krishna. Tulsi
Das is the foremost among the Ram Bhakt poets. He depicted Rama as
the Ideal Man in his classical works
Ramacharitamanasa,
Gitavali, Kavitavali and
Vinay
Patrika. Other important poets of this group were Agradasa (Hitopadesa,
Kundalian), Nabhadasa (Bhaktamala)
and Pran Chand Chauhan. The Krishna Bhakt poets composed
devotional pieces portraying different aspects of Lord Krishna's
life, mainly the popular image of the playful Krishna. Surdas
(1483-1563) is the greatest of this stream of poets. His
Sur
Sagar and
Sur Saravali
are the masterpieces of devotional Hindi poetry. Nand Das (Rasa-pancadhyayi
and
Bhanvar-gita),
Parmananda Das (Dhruvacarita
and Danalila) and Meera Bai were other leading poets of this stream.
Meera Bai (1499-1547) was the most celebrated of the women poets of
medieval times.
Several
works like
Narsiji Ki Mahero,
Gitagovinda Ki Tika, Ragagovinda, Garva-gita and
Raga-vihaga
are attributed to Meera Bai. Maulana Daud (Candayan),
Kutuban (Mrigavati),
Malik Mohammad Jayasi (Padmavati)
were among the important Sufi poets of this period.
Abdur Rahim Khankhana (1556-1627) was another great poet of
this period.
Some of
his important works are
Rahim-dohavali,
Sringara Sorath, Madanastaka and
Rasa-pancadhyayi.
The
Ritikal or the
Scholastic period covers the period 1600-1850 A.D. It emulated the
Sanskrit rhetorical tradition and tackled different aspects of
poetics like rasa, alankara and
nayika
bheda through
Saviyas
and
Kavithas. The poets of this period can be classified into two
groups on the basis of their subject:
Ritibaddha
(those wedded to rhetoric) and
Ritimukta
(free from rhetorical conventions). The
Ritibaddha
poets composed on
Lakshana
(definitional) and
Lakshya
(illustrative) themes. Chintamani Tripathi (Kavya-viveka,
Kavikula-kalpataru and
Kavya-prakasa,
Keshavadasa (Rasika-priya
and
Kavi-priya), Mati
Ram (Rasaraja),
Padmakara (Jagadvinoda),
Deva, Kulpati Misra, and Bhikari Das were the leading poets of
this style. The
Ritimukta group of poets wrote in a spontaneous manner depicting
powerful feelings of love and did not follow the pattern of poetry
based on rhetoric. Ghanananda (1699-1740), Bodha (b.1747) and
Thakur (1766-1823) were the leading names of this genre of poetry.
Ghanananda (Sujana-sagara, Rasa-Kelivalli and
Kripa-kanda) is by far the best writer of the non-rhetorical
tradition of Hindi poetry.
Some
poets like Vrinda (1643-1723), Vaital and Giridhar (c.1743)
composed didactic poetry in stray verses while others like
Bhushana (1613-1712), Sudan, Lal Kavi (1657-1707) and others
concentrated on heroic poetry. Bihari (1603-1663) was another leading poet of the
Ritimukha
School, renowned for his anthology of
dohas
called Bihari-satsai.
The
Adhunikaal or the
Modern Period in Hindi literature began in the middle of the 19th
century. The most important development of this period was the
evolution of
Khariboli
prose and proliferation of the use of
Khariboli
in poetry in place of Brajbhasha. This period has been divided
into four phases: the age of Bharatendu or the Renaissance
(1868-1893), Dwivedi Yug (1893-1918), Chhayavada Yug (1918-1937)
and the Contemporary Period (1937 onwards). Bharatendu
Harishchandra (1849-1882), who brought in a modern outlook in
Hindi literature, is described as the ‘Father of Modern Hindi
Literature’.
Radhakrishna
Das, Pratapnarayan Mishra, Balkrishna Bhatta, Badrinarayan
Chaudhuri and Sudhakar Dwivedi were other important writers of
this phase. Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (1868-1938), who brought in a
refined style of writing in Hindi prose, is regarded as the
architect of modern Hindi prose. During this phase, social,
political and economic problems were portrayed through the medium
of poetry. Other important writers of this period are Nathuram
Sharma Shankar (1859-1932), Ayodhya Sinha Upadhyay (1865-1947),
Maithali Saran Gupta (1886-1964), Ram Naresh Tripathi (1889-1962)
and Gopala Sarana Sinha (1891-1960). Maithali Saran Gupta revived
the epic tradition with his long narrative poems like
Jayadrath Vadh (1910),
Pancavati
(1925),
Saket (1931)
and
Yashodhara
(1932).
He also
translated Madhusudan Dutt's
Meghnadvadh-kavya
into Hindi. This period, which has been described as 'the
didactic' period, served as a bridge between the Bharatendu age
and the
Chayavad.
The
post-Dwivedi Yug witnessed a new romantic upsurge in the form of
the
Chayavad style of
poetry. This new poetry movement was described as 'an aesthetic,
subjective movement that revolted against formalism and
didacticism'. Makhanlal Chaturvedi (1888-1968), Balkrishna Shama
‘Navin’ (1897-1959), Siyaram Sharan Gupta (b.1895),
Jayashankar Prasad, Surya Kant Tripathi 'Nirala' (1897-1963),
Sumitranandan Pant (1900-1977), Mahadevi Verma (b.1907) and
Subhadrakumari Chauhan (1904-1948) were the leading
Chayavad
poets. Makhanlal Chaturvedi's works include
Hima-kiritni
and
Hima-tarangani.
Nirala's powerful poetry is reflected in works like
Juhi
Ki Kali, Parimala, Anamika, Archana and
Aradhana.
Sumitranandan Pant has several important works to his credit
including
Pallava, Gunjana,
Yugavani, Gramya, Svarnakirana, Silpi and
Lokayatana.
The other important literary works of the
Chayavad
period include Jayshankar Prasad's
Kamayani,
Jharna, Amsu and
Lahar;
Mahadevi Varma's
Rashmi
(1932), Niraja
(1934),
Sandhyagita
(1936),
Yama (1940) and
Dipasikha (1942); Navina's
Kvasi
and
Apalaka; Gupta's
Gandhi, Unmukta, Nakula
and
Mrinmayi and
Subhadrakumari Chauhan's
Jhansi
Ki Rani,
Mukul (1931) and
Unmadini.
The
decline of the Chayavad movement saw the emergence of several
different styles in Hindi poetry. One popular style known as
Pragativada
or progressive movement was popularized by the writings of
Balakrishna Sharma Navin (1897-1960), Bhagvati Charan Varma
(b.1903), Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (b.1908), Rameshwar Shukla 'Ancala'
(b.1915) and Narendra Sharma (b.1916). Harivansh Rai Bachchan
(b.1907) enriched the world of Hindi poetry with his three
beautiful collections,
Madhusala
(1935),
Madhubala (1936)
and
Madhukalas (1936).
Bachchan's poetry was distinct from the romanticism of
Chayavad
and the enthusiasm of the
Pragativad.
His kind of poetry is sometimes referred as 'Hridayvad' or the poetry of passion. Then followed an experimental
movement called
Prayogavada,
which came to be known in later times as the 'Nai
Kavita'. This movement brought about a new poetic content and
talent to reflect modern insight. The pioneers of this trend were
S.H.Vatsyayan 'Ajneya' (b.1911), Shivmangal Singh 'Suman'
(b.1916), Girija Kumar Mathur (b.1917), Gajananmadhav Muktibodh
(1918-1964), Dharamvir Bharati (b.1926), Nirmal Verma and others.
The history of Hindi poetry, thus, extends over a period of
almost one thousand years.
The
development of Hindi prose has been classified into three periods:
The first phase (1868-1918), the phase of growth (1918-1937) and
the present phase (1938 onwards). Prose literature of Bharatendu
and Dwivedi era covers the first phase. The writers of this age
developed drama, novel, short story, essay and literary criticism.
Bharatendu Harishchandra, Bal Krishna Bhatt and Radha Krishna Das
were the prominent writers of this period. Other prominent littérateurs
of this age included Devaki Nandan Khatri (novelist), Chandradhar
Sharma Guleri (short-story writer), Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi
(essayist) and Padma Singh Sharma (critic).
The
period of growth is represented by Jayshankar Prasad (Chaya,
Akash Deep), Rai Krishna Das and Mahadevi Varma. Premchand
(1880-1936) was the greatest stalwart in the field of fiction. His
works of fiction include
Sevasadana,
Premasrama, Nirmala, Kayakalpa, Rangabhumi, Ghaban and
Godan.
His last novel
Godan has
been translated in all the major languages of India. Other important fiction writers of the contemporary period
include Jainendra Kumar (Sunita
and
Tyagapatra, Sukhada,
Vivarta), Phanishwar Nath Renu (Maila
Anchal), Satchinanda Vatsyayan (Sekhar
Ek Jivani), Dharamvir Bharati (Suraj
Ka Satvan Ghoda), Yash Pal (Dada-comrade,
Desh Drohi, Divya and
Manusya
Ke Rupa), Jagdamba Prasad Dikshit (Murdaghar)
and Rahi Masoom Raza (Adha
Gaon).
Dr
Nagendra and Dr Namwar Singh are the most respectable names in the
field of literary criticism. Upendranath 'Ashk’, Jagdish Chandra
Mathur (Konark),
Lakshminarayan Lal (Sukha
Sarovar) and Mohan Rakesh (Asadha
Ka Ek Din, Lahraon Ke Rajahamsa and
Adhe-Adhure)
are renowned modern playwrights in Hindi. |
