Sumitra Nandan Pant

Sumitranandan Pant was one of the four pillars of Chhayavaadi school of Hindi literature. He was a literary critic and also a short story writer. He was born on 20th May, 1900 at Kausani village of Bageshwar. Initially he was educated in Almora. After passing matriculation he went to Kalakankar near Prayag and got admitted to Prayag University. He left the college to respond Gandhi's call and joined Indian Freedom Movement though he continued to read English, Sanskrit and Bengali literature. He knew Persian as well. Pant was influenced by the poetic creations of Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth and Tagore.

Sumitranandan Pant was one of the four pillars of Chhayavaadi poems. He mixed the Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram ideology of Indian Philosophy in his poem; but when the Chhayavaadi movement`s popularity was on the decline he changed the main theme from aesthetic mysticism to Marxist ideology. He was famous for his poem collection `Pallav`, comprising thirty-two poems written between 1918 and 1925. His other major works are Veena, Uchchhavaas, Granthi, Gunjan, Lokayatan Pallavini, Madhu Jwala, Manasi, Vaani, Yug Path, Satyakaam, Anguthita, Gramya, Trapith, Mukti Yagna, Yugant and Swachchand. He has authored in all twenty eight published works which include poetry, verse plays and essays. He derived inspiration from the beauties of nature of his native Kumaon.

He has written some poetic dramas and Jyotsna (The Rays of the Moon) is the most famous among them. He was essentially lyrical. His poetic dramas are basically dialogues. He was also a literary critic.

Sumitranandan Pant was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan in 1961.He was also honored with Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi. Soviet Union gave him Nehru Peace Prize for Lokayatan. Sumitranandan Pant, passed away in the year of 1977. Pant's childhood house, in Kausani, has been converted into a museum. This museum displays his daily use articles, drafts of his poems, letters, his awards etc.