Rambriksh Benipuri

Ramavriksha Benipuri
Born	23 December 1899 Benipur Village,Muzaffarpur,India
Died	9 September 1968 (aged 68) Muzaffarpur, India
Occupation	Freedom fighter socialist leader editor writer dramatist essayist novelist politician
Nationality	Indian
Literary movement	Kisan Mahasabha, Quit India Movement, Janaue Todo Abhiyaan
Notable works	Ambpali, Patiton Ke Desh Mein, Genhu Aur Gulab, Maati Ki Muratien, Zanjeerein Aur Deewarien, Vijeta, Shakuntala etc.
Notable awards	Lifetime Achievement Award For Contribution In Literature From Rashtra Bhasha Parishad
Children	Dr. Prabha Benipuri
Relatives	Shyam Sunder Das

Ramavriksha Benipuri(,23 December 1899 – 9 September 1968) was an independence activist,socialist leader,editorandHindiwriter. He was born in a small village named Benipur in Muzaffarpur district in aBhumihar Brahminfamily in the Indian state ofBihar.He had spent nine years in prison for fighting for India's independence.He was the founder ofBiharSocialist Partyin 1931 andCongress Socialist Partyin 1934. He served as the president ofPatnaDistrictCongressCommitteeofIndian National Congressfrom 1935 to 1937 during the1937 Indian provincial elections.He was elected as theMember of the Legislative Assembly (India)from Katra North in 1957. In 1958, he was elected as theSyndicateMember ofBiharUniversity(NowBabasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University),Muzaffarpur.

Ramvriksha Benipuri hailed fromMuzaffarpurin Bihar and took active part in theIndian freedom movement.He was also a journalist ofHindi Literatureand started several newspapers likeYuvakin 1929 and regularly contributed in various others to spread the idea of nationalism and freedom fromBritish rule.

Writing career

Benipuriji's first writing was published in Pratapa ofKanpurin 1916.Since then, till the attainment of Independence of India, his was a life of political activities and struggle.In 1928–29, Benipuri established Yuvaka-Ashram in front ofPatna CollegeinPatnawith his friends and lifelong colleaguesGanga Sharan SinghandPandit Ramnandan Mishra.In 1929, Benipuri started the publication of Yuvaka, a Hindi monthly from this organization, under his editorship.

Benipuri started his literary career in 1921 with a weekly Hindi journalTarun Bharatof which he was an associate editor. He also worked as an associate editor of theKisan Mitraweekly in 1922,Golmalin 1924 and as an editor of the monthly journalBalakin 1926, but the publication ofYuvakmade him more popular.

Yuvak Hindi Journal

Yuvak,an illustrated Hindi monthly magazine, was launched in January 1929 by Rambriksh Benipuri, a distinguished Hindi writer, critic, poet, journalist and freedom fighter.He was assisted byGanga Sharan Singh (Sinha),Ambica Kant Sinha and Jagdish Narayan in its publication.Devoted to 'strength, courage and culture', Yuvak was edited, printed and published by Rambriksh Benipuri from the Patna Yuvak Ashram.It was printed at the Searchlight Press.Yuvak was the official organ of thePatna Yuvak Sanghfounded in 1927 by Manindra Narayan Roy, a journalist ofThe Searchlight.

Yuvakmade Benipuri an eyesore of the colonial British government as its mission was to secure Swaraj for India promoting armed revolution and overthrowing the British regime.Its writings had a clear impact of Marxism as its contributors were political elites, avowed nationalists and Marxist revolutionaries.

As a Playwright

Ramvriksha Benipuri stands in a class apart as a playwright.He wroteAmbapalaiduring his detention in the Hazaribagh Central Jail.Later on he wrote a series of one-act plays and radio-dramas, more notable being: theNetra-dan,Tathagat,Sanghamitra,Singhal VijayandVijeta.Benipuri had a forceful pen and was a prolific writer.Main attraction of Benipuri's plays lies in his way of writing.There is a delightful mixture of romanticism and idealism in his plays.

Short stories

In most of Ramvriksha Benipuri's short stories pictures of rural life of north Bihar, specially that of Muzaffarpur district have been vividly presented.HisMati ki Mooraten,though not a story book in strict sense of the term, actually presents persons of flesh and blood, each throbbing with life, on a rural canvas.

Style and influence

Benipuri wrote mostly big stories and essays. His dramas covered mostly ancient events. For example,Amipuredepicts the life of the famous courtesanAmbipurewho adopted and converted toBuddhismafter meetingBuddha.LikewiseNetradaan(that is, Gift of Eyes), another drama, is based on a historical legend involvingAshokaand his son Kunal.

He was also a distinguished playwright.

A stanza from one of his famous poems,"Shahido – tumhari yaad me"goes like this:

"Hey, the Martyrs of August Revolution,

We shall forever keep the flag high

For which thy hath given the lives;

We shall always esteem the path of martyrdom

Sanctified by the blood of the supreme sacrifice. "

The eminentHindiwriter, poet, play-wright, journalist and nationalist Rambriksh Benipuri, who spent more than eight years in prison fighting for India's independence writes of Non-co-operation movement as:

When I recall Non-Cooperation era of 1921, the image of a storm confronts my eyes. From the time I became aware, I have witnessed numerous movements, however, I can assert that no other movement upturned the foundations of Indian society to the extent that the Non-Cooperation movement did. from the most humble huts to the high places, from villages to cities, everywhere there was a ferment, a loud echo.

Benipuri (right) at Kisan Sabha CSP Patna rally, August 1936

In the freedom movement

Benipuri was a close associate ofJayaprakash Narayanand a leading light of theCongress Socialist Party.He took active part in the agitation against theRowlatt Actand participated in theNon-cooperation movementlaunched byMahatma Gandhiin 1920.He was an active member of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee, a member of theIndian National Congress,one of the founder members of the Bihar Socialist Party and a member of the working committee of theAll India Congress Socialist Party.He had also been the President of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha and the Vice-President of theAll India Kisan Sabha.At the 50th session of the All India Congress Committee held atFaizpurin 1937 he moved a resolution on the abolition of Zamindari.Again, it was Benipuri who helpedJayaprakash Narayanescape from the Hazaribagh Central Jail along withJogendra Shukul,Suraj Narayan Singh, Gulali Sonar,Pandit Ramnandan Mishra,and Shaligram Singh on 9 November 1942 keeping the prisoners engaged in Diwali Celebration.

In Hazaribagh Central Jail, he initiated a campaign "Janaeu Todo Abhiyaan" (Breaking of theUpanayanathreads) againstCasteism.As Upnayan threads are the symbol of upper castes epesicallyBrahminandZamindar.

Homage

Benipuri on a 1999 stamp of India

In 1999, Benipuri was one of the Hindi writers depicted in a set of commemorative postal stamps released to celebrate the "Linguistic Harmony of India,"marking the 50th anniversary since India adopted Hindi as its official language.

Centenary celebrations

The chief guest on the occasion of the birth centenary of Benipuri held in zonal railway training centre atMuzaffarpur,held under the auspices of railway ministry, was the formerPrime Minister of IndiaChandra Shekhar.The main speakers included litterateur Namwar Singh and journalistPrabhash Joshi.Namwar Singh described Benipuri as only the second litterateur who preferred to associate his name with that of his village.

Prabhash Joshiranked Benipuri withMakhanlal ChaturvediandGanesh Shankar Vidyarthi,who were both contemporary writers and journalists as well.He said ' "Benipuri was not like today's journalists who work only to earn. Benipuri had a desire to create a" samtawadi samaj "and fight against imperialism."

Major literary works

Memoirs and essays

• Patiton Ke Desh Mein-1930-33
• Chita Ke Phool-1930-32
• Lal Taaraa-1937-39

Lal Tara is the symbol of a new light of the morning.The light is very near and therefore the darkness has increased.The writer wants to say that the darkness would disappear within a short time and a new rising light would come out. There are 16 such sketches in the collection.Benipuri tries to search out a new society, a new way of living and a new culture.

• Kaidee Ki Patni-1940
• Maate

-1941-45

• Gehun Aur Gulaab- 1948–50

It was published in 1950.This composition also brought much laurels and fame to Benipuri and was welcomed in the Hindi world like the former two titles,"Lal Tara"and"Mati ki Murten".

• Zanjeeren Aur Deewaren
• Udate Chalo, Udate Chalo

Dramas

• Ambpali-1941-46
• Sita Ki maan-1948-50
• Sanghamitra-1948-50
• Amar Jyoti-1951
• Tathaagat
• Singhal Vijay
• Shakuntala
• Ramrajya
• Netradaan-1948-50
• Gaao Ke Devata
• Nayaa samaaj
• Vijeta-1953.
• Baiju Mama,National Book Trust,1994

Editing and critical

• VidyapatiKi Padaavali
• Bihari (poet)satsai Ki Subodh Teekaa

Biography

• Jayaprakash Narayanonly with the initials Jayaprakash

Lalit Gadya

• Vande Vaani Vinayaka−1953-54.

Collected works

• Collected Works of Rambriksh Benipuri,8 volumes, Radhakrishna Prakashan

Selected works/anthology

• Rambriksh Benipuri Rachna Sanchayan,Sahitya Akademi

Works on Rambriksha Benipuri

• Gajanan Pandurang Chavan,Ramvriksha aur unka sahitya,1984.
• Dr. Prabha Benipuri,Benipuriji ke natakon me samajik chetna, 1989.
• Ram Bachan Rai,Ramvriksh Benipuri,Sahitya Akademi,1995,ISBN81-7201-974-2.
• Raśmi Caturvedī,Rāmavr̥ksha Benīpurī ke rekhācitra, eka adhyayana,Sāhitya Nilaya, 2005.
• Indu Prakash Pandey,Hindi Literature: Trends & Traits,Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1975.

See also

• List of Indian writers