Harivansh Rai Bachchan was an influential Indian poet who lived from 1907 to 2003. He is best known for his poem "Madhushala" published in 1935, which catapulted him to fame and popularity. Throughout his 60-year career, Bachchan was a leading figure of the Chhayavaad literary movement in Hindi poetry and was renowned for his lyrical and rebellious style. He received many honors, including the Padma Bhushan, and is regarded as having made landmark contributions to Hindi literature.

2. POET

3. • Harivansh Rai Shrivastav alias
Bachchan (Hindi: )
(27 November 1907 – 18 January 2003),
was a noted Indian poet of Chhayavaad
literary movement (romantic upsurge) of
early 20th century Hindi literature. He
was also a famous poet of the Hindi
Kavi Sammelan. He is best known for
his early work Madhushala ( ).
He is also the father of Bollywood
megastar, Amitabh Bachchan.

4. PERSONAL LIFE AND EDUCATION
 Born in a Srivastava Kayastha family, in the
village of Babupatti (Raniganj) in the district
of Pratapgarh, U.P. he was the eldest son of
Pratap Narayan Shrivastav and Saraswati
Devi. He was called Bachchan (meaning
Kid at home). He received his formal
schooling in a municipal school and
followed the family tradition of attending
Kayastha Paathshaalas to learn Urdu as the
first step to a career in law. He later studied
at the Allahabad University and Banaras
Hindu University

5. Career
 From 1941 to 1952 he taught in the English
Department at the Allahabad University and after
that he spent the next two years at St Catharine's
College, Cambridge, Cambridge University doing
his doctoral thesis on W.B. Yeats. It was then,
that he used ‘Bachchan’ as his last name instead
of Srivastava. Harivanshrai’s thesis got him his
PhD at Cambridge. After returning to India he
again took to teaching and also served at All India
Radio, Allahabad.

6. BACHCHAN’S STYLE
Bachchan used to introduce himself as:-
“Mitti ka tan, masti ka man, kshan-bhar
jivan– mera parichay.
(A body of clay, a mind full of play, a
moment’s life - that's me)”

7.  Madhushala
 Madhubala
 Madhukalash Nisha Nimantran (1938)
 Ekaant Sangeet (1939)
 Aakul Antar (1943)
 Satarangini (1945)
 Kaadi ke Phool (1948)
 Milan Yamini (1950)
 Pranay Patrika (1955)
 Buddha aur Naachghar (1958)
 Tribhangima (1961)
 Char kheme Chaunsath khoonte (1962)
 Do Chattane (1965)
 Bahut din beete (1967)
 Kat-ti pratimaaon ki awaaz (1968)
 Jaal sameta (1973)
 Nirman

8.  Bachpan ke saath kshan bhar (1934)
 Khaiyyam ki madhushala (1938)
 Sopaan (1953)
 Mcbeth (1957)
 Othello (1959)
 Omar Khaiyyam ki rubaaiyan (1959)
 Abhinav sopaan (1964)
 W.B. Yeats and Occultism (1968)
 Naagar geet (1966)
 Hamlet (1969)
 Bhaasha apni bhaav paraaye (1970)
 Pant ke sau patra) (1970)
 Pravaas ki diary (1971)
 King Lear (1972)
 Tooti Chooti kadiyan (1973)
 So-ham hans (1981)
 Jo beet gai so Bat gai

9.  Kya bhooloon kya yaad karoon
(1969)
 Need ka nirmaan fir (1970)
 Basere se door (1977)
 Dashdwaar se sopaan tak
(1985), In the Afternoon of Time
 Bachchan rachanavali ke nau
khand (1983)

10.  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" Samman in 1994. A postage stamp was
released in 2003 in his memory.

11.  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.. In 1969, he published the first of his four part
autobiography 'Kya bhooloon kya yaad karoon'. The second part 'Need
ka nirmaan fir' was published in 1970, the third 'Basere se door' in 1977
and the last part 'Dashdwaar se sopaan tak' in 1985. The series was well
received and an abridged English translation by Rupert Snell, 'In the
Afternoon of Time', was published in 1998. It is now considered to be a
landmark in Hindi literature.

12.  One feels a sense of life and playfulness after reading his
poems, the two aspects which would become the hallmark of his
poetry. In a career that spanned for about 60 years, he was the
torch bearer of the Chhayavaad or Romantic upsurge literary
movement .There was a time when thousands and thousands
would fill into theaters and auditoriums just to listen to him recite
his poems, a particular favorite being the epochal 'Madhushala'.
His poetry is noted for its lyrical beauty and rebellious attitude
with imagery that is unfettered and sensuous that placed him in a
different league from his contemporaries in the Chhayavaad
movement. Harivansh Rai Bachchan became the epitome of the
romantic rebel. Through his poems he focused on the common
man's urge for freedom and the sensuousness underlying in this
quest, which made him a literary star embraced by the public.

13.  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.

14.  www.wikipedia.com