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Saturday, August 20, 2011

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan



Subhadra Kumari Chauhan
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (1904- February 15, 1948) was an Indian poetess famous for her emotionally charged Hindi songs.

Early life

Born in Nihalpur village in Allahabad District in Uttar Pradesh. She initially studied in the Crosthwaite Girls’ School in Allahabad and passed the middle-school examination in 1919. After her marriage to Thakur Lakshman Singh Chauhan of Khandwa in the same year, she moved to Jabalpur.


Family

She had five children.Sudha Chauhan (now deceased), Ajay Chauhan (now deceased), Vijay Chauhan (now deceased), Ashok Chauhan (now deceased) and Mamta Chauhan(Bhargava),currently residing in Buffalo, New York. The Spouses of Ajay and Ashok Chauhan currently live in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.


Writing career

She has authored a number of popular works in Hindi poetry. Her most famous composition is Jhansi Ki Rani, an emotionally charged poem describing the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai. The poem is one of the most recited and sung poems in Hindi literature. This and her other poems, Veeron Ka Kaisa Ho Basant, Rakhi Ki Chunauti and Vida, openly talk about the freedom movement. They are said to have inspired great numbers of Indian youth to participate in the Indian Freedom Movement. Here is the opening stanza of Jhansi ki Rani:



simhasan hil uthe, rajavanshon ne bhrikuti tani thi,
boodhhe bharat mein aayi, phir se nayi jawaani thi,
gumi hui azadI ki keemat sab ne pahachani thi,
door firangi ko karne ki sab ne man mein thani thi.
chamak uthi san sattawan mein, woh talwaar puraani thi,
bundele harbolon ke munh ham ne sunI kahani thi,
khoob la di mardani woh to jhansI wali rani thi.

English translation:


The thrones shook and royalties scowled
Old India was re-invigorated with new youth
People realised the value of lost freedom
Everybody was determined to throw the foreigners out
The old sword glistened again in 1857
This story we heard from the mouths of Bundel bards
Like a man she fought, she was the Queen of Jhansi

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan wrote in the Khariboli dialect of Hindi, in a simple, clear style. Apart from heroic poems, she also wrote poems for children. She wrote some short stories based on the life of the middle class too.

Death

She died in 1948 in a car accident near kalbodi (in Seoni,MP). An Indian Coast Guard ship has been named after her. A Statue of Subhadra Kumari Chauhan has been installed by the M.P Govt.in front of the Municipal Corporation office of Jabalpur

Works
Collections of poems

Tridhara
Mukul (1930)
Yeh Kadamb Ka Ped

These anthologies consist some of the well-known poems like Jhansi ki Raani, Veeron Ka Kaisa Ho Basant and Yeh Kadamb Ka Ped.
Collections of short stories

Bhikhre Moti (1932)
Unmadini (1934)
Seedhe-Saade Chitra (1946)

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