Hindi literature includes literature in the various Central Zone Indo-Aryan languages which have writing systems. It is broadly classified into four prominent forms (styles) based on the date of production. They are:
Maithili is an Indic language native to the Indian subcontinent, mainly spoken in India and Nepal. In India, it is spoken in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand and is one of the 22 recognised Indian languages. In Nepal, it is spoken in the eastern Terai and is the second most prevalent language of Nepal. It is also one of the 122 recognized Nepalese languages. Tirhuta was formerly the primary script for written Maithili. Less commonly, it was also written in the local variant of Kaithi. Today it is written in the Devanagari script.
The word Mahakavi or Maha Kavi is an honorific and means "Great Poet". This may refer to:
Maithili Sharan Gupt was one of the most important modern Hindi poets. He is considered one among the pioneers of Khari Boli poetry and wrote in Khari Boli dialect, at a time when most Hindi poets favoured the use of Braj Bhasha dialect. He was a recipient of the third highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Bhushan. For his book Bharat-Bharati (1912), widely quoted during India's freedom struggle, he was given the title of Rashtra Kavi by Mahatma Gandhi.
Vaidyanath Mishra, better known by his pen name Nagarjun, was a Hindi and Maithili poet who has also penned a number of novels, short stories, literary biographies and travelogues, and was known as Janakavi- the People's Poet. He is regarded as the most prominent protagonist of modernity in Maithili.
Vidyapati (1352–1448), also known by the sobriquet Maithil Kavi Kokil, was a Maithili poet and a Sanskrit writer.
Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University (KSDSU) is a state university located at Darbhanga, Bihar, India, dedicated to the teaching and promotion of Sanskrit.
Professor Radha Krishna Choudhary was a historian, thinker and writer of Bihar. He has contributed to the historical and archaeological studies of Bihar as well as to Maithili literature. He published numerous original researches on the history of Bihar and was acclaimed as a researcher. He was a professor at Ganesh Dutt College, Begusarai, Bihar and was a noted educationist. His languages of choice for academic works were Hindi and English and for literary work was Maithili.
Keshavdas Mishra, usually known by the mononym Keshavdas or Keshavadasa, was a Sanskrit scholar and Hindi poet, best known for his Rasik Priya, a pioneering work of the riti kaal of Hindi literature.
Gulab Khandelwal was an Indian poet who wrote poetry in different forms such as Lyrics, Sonnets, Rubais (Quatrains), Dohas (Couplets), Odes, Elegies, Lyrical Ballads, Epics, Poetic Dramas, Ghazals, and Masnavi with equal felicity. He even introduced some of these forms into Hindi literature and, apart from Hindi, has also written poetry in Urdu and English. The span of his poetic language touches upon Sanskrit on one end and Urdu on the other. Gulab Khandelwal died in Ohio on 2 July 2017.
Ram Karan Sharma is a Sanskrit poet and scholar. He was born in 1927, at Shivapur in the Saran district of Bihar. He passed away on December 18, 2018 in New Delhi. He has been awarded an MA in Sanskrit and Hindi from Patna University as well as Sahityacharya, Vyakarana Shastri and Vedanta Shastri degrees. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, under the guidance of Murray B. Emeneau. Sharma writes in both Sanskrit and English. His literary works include the poetry collections Sandhya, Patheyasatakam and Vina, and the novels, Rayisah and Sima. Elements of poetry in the Mahabharata is considered his most significant work as a critic of Sanskrit literature. Apart from his literary works he has also translated and edited books on Indian medicine, epics, and Puranas. He also contributed research papers in various seminars, journals and books in the field of Indology.
Brajabuli, derived from Vrijji Mahajanapada, is an artificial literary language popularized by the poet Vidyapati. His Brajabuli lyrics about the love of Radha and Krishna are considered his best work. Other poets emulated his writing, and the language became established in the 16th century. Among the medieval Bengali poets who wrote in Brajabuli are Narottama Dasa, Balarama Das, Jnanadas, and Gobindadas Kabiraj.
Maithili literature is the entire collection of poetry, novels, short stories, documents and other writings in the Maithili language. The most famous literary figure in Maithili is the poet Vidyapati (1350–1450), who wrote his poems in the language of the people, i.e., Maithili, at a time when state's official language was Sanskrit and Sanskrit was being used as a literary language. The use of Maithili, instead of Sanskrit, in literature became more common after Vidyapati.
Nathuram Sharma, better known by his pen-name Mahakavi Shankar, (1859–1932) was a Hindi and Urdu poet from Harduaganj, Aligarh, North-Western Provinces, British India. He worked with the Irrigation Department at Kanpur and subsequently as an Ayurvedic physician. His poetic works are primarily in the dialects of Braj Bhasha and Khariboli. He was a writer of Modern Period.
Jagadguru Rambhadracharya is a Hindu religious leader, Sanskrit scholar and Katha artist based in Chitrakoot, India. His works consist of poems, commentaries, plays and musical compositions of his works, etc. He has authored more than 100 books and 50 papers, including four epic poems, a Hindi commentary on Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas, and Sanskrit commentaries on the Ashtadhyayi and the Prasthanatrayi scriptures. Various audio and video recordings o his works have also been released. He writes in Sanskrit, Hindi, Awadhi, Maithili, and several other languages.
Jayakant Mishra was an Indian scholar and author. He was a professor of English at Allahabad University, and an advocate for the Maithili language, where he petitioned the Government of Bihar to make its language instruction available for primary schools in the area., He worked tirelessly for the statehood of Mithila in India carving out from Bihar and Jharkhand from 1994 till his death.
Chandranath Mishra ‘Amar’ is a Maithili writer and poet. He is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award for his 1982 work Maithili Patrakaritak Itahas. He also won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for the year 2010.
Parichay Das, born Ravindra Nath Srivastava, is an Indian writer, essayist, poet and editor of contemporary Bhojpuri poetry. He writes in Bhojpuri, Maithili and Hindi. He is Ph.D. from Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur. He is ex Secretary, Maithili-Bhojpuri Academy, Delhi Government and ex Secretary, Hindi Academy, Delhi Government. He has written/ edited/ text edited more than 30 books. He received the Dwi-Vaageesh Samman award for srijan evam anuvaad [ writing and translation ] by the Bhartiya Anuvad Parishad [ Translator's Association of India] in 2012.. He received Bhojpuri Keerti Sammaan, Bharteey Dalit Sahitya Sammaan, Shyam Narayan Pandey Sammaan,Editor's Choice Award and Damodar Das Chaturvedi Bhasha-Sahitya Sammaan. He delivered a lecture on Bhojpuri in Kathmandu as representative of kendriy Sahitya Akademi in 2012. He recited his poems in SAARC Literary Summit in Delhi in 2011. He is considered a unique personal essay writer in Indian Languages and path breaker poet in Bhojpuri.
Surendra Jha 'Suman'(सुरेन्द्र झा 'सुमन'), also referred to as 'Suman Ji' or Acharya Surendra Jha 'Suman', was a renowned Maithili poet, writer, publisher, editor and elected member of legislative assembly and parliament. He is also known for his role as publisher, editor, journalist, social and cultural reformer and promoter of Mithila culture. He authored about forty books in Maithili and was also the Editor of various publications and books in Maithili, Sanskrit and Hindi. He served the Governing Bodies of various literary and academic institutions in different capacities in his State. He was also the recipient of Sahitya Akademy Award in 1971 for Payaswini and in 1995 for Translation Rabindra Natakavali Vol. I. He was born in a village known as Ballipur in the Samastipur district of Bihar.
Dr. N. Gopi is an eminent Indian poet, literary critic in Telugu and Sahitya Akademi Award recipient. He has also been in the University system as a professor and Dean since 1974, until retiring in 2008. He has also held the post of the Vice Chancellor of Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad. A humanist to the core, Gopi exudes nativity and national outlook in his poetry.
