Dialect of the Soul: Maithili Sharan Gupt, the Hindi Poet

Maithili Sharan Gupt was born in Uttar Pradesh on this day in 1886. He is well known for bringing to the fore the pain of unacknowledged women characters in mythology and history. He was the voice of the shadows.

Maithili Sharan Gupt 1974 stamp of India.jpgAt one of our BYOB Parties, one of our reader friends spoke about Maithili Sharan Gupt’s classic work Saket (Saket means Ayodhya-vasi or one who lives in Ayodhya). In this rendition of the Ramayan, the author speaks from Lakshmana’s perspective and portrays his wife’s Urmila’s resilience and poetically renders the pain of separation that she must endure. These themes also appear in Yashodhara, where Buddha’s wife laments over her husband’s choices.

Maithili Sharan Gupt was a proponent of plain dialect (Khari Boli) poetry and his poems revolve around the epics of Hinduism and Buddhism. He was a recipient of many awards including the Padma Bhushan and he was christened Rashtra Kavi by Gandhi. Maithili Sharan Gupt is most loved for the way he deals with his female protagonists as he was progressive for the time.

He was an honorary member of the Rajya Sabha where he shared his poetry about matters of national importance.