1976, 9th Sept, Bharatendu Harischandra ( Writer ) - Commemoration 25 NP MN H

1976,  Bharatendu Harischandra ( Writer ) 

Bharatendu Harischandra ( Writer ) - Commemoration 25 NP 9th Sept 1976 MN H

           Text                                   : Bharatendu Harischandra 25 nP
           Condition                           : MN H

Stamp Issue Date	:	09/09/1976
Postage Stamp Denomination	:	0.25
Postal Stamp Serial Number	:	0821
Postal Stamp Name	:	HARISHCHANDRA (POET)
Stamp Currency	:	P
Stamp Type	:	COMMEMORATIVE
Stamp Language	:	English
Indian Stamp's Color	:	Multicolour

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THIS STAMP PORTRAYS BHARATENDU HARISHCHANDRA (1850-1885),A PIONEER DRAMATIST AND WRITER OF HINDI LANGUAGE AND EXPONENT OF “KHARIBOLI” AS THE VEHICLE FOR POETRY.

Bharatendu Harishchandra (भारतेन्दु हरिश्चन्द्र) (September 9, 1850 – January 6, 1885) is known as the father of modern Hindi literature as well as Hindi theater.^[1][2]He is considered one of the greatest Hindi writers of modern India. A recognized poet, he was also a trend setter in Hindi prose-writing. As an author of several dramas,^[3]life sketches and travel accounts, Bharatendu Harishchandra represents the agonies of the people, country's poverty, dependency, inhuman exploitation, the unrest of the middle class and the urge for the progress of the country. He wrote under the pen name "Rasa".

Born in Banaras, Bharatendu Harishchandra's father Gopal Chandra was a poet. He wrote poems under the pseudonym Girdhar Das. Bharatendu's parents died when he was still young but they seem to have had an influence on him. Acharya Ramchandra Shukla has described how Bharatendu went to the Jagannath temple in Puri, Orissa with his family in 1865, when he was merely fifteen years of age.^[4] It was during this trip that he was influenced by the Bengal Renaissance and decided to bring the genres of social, historical, and Puranic plays and novels into Hindi. This influence reflected in his Hindi translation of the Bengali drama Vidyasundar, just three years later, in 1868.

Bharatendu devoted his life to the development of Hindi literature. In recognition of his services as a writer, patron and modernizer, the title of "Bharatendu" was conferred on him at a public meeting by scholars of Kashi in 1880. Reputed literary critic Ramvilas Sharma refers to the "great literary awakening ushered in under Bharatendu's leadership" as the "second story of the edifice of renascent Hindi," the first being the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Bharatendu Harishchandra was multi-faceted. He made major contributions in the field of journalism, drama, and poetry. He edited the magazines Kavi Vachan Sudha in 1868,In 1873 Harishchandra Magazine ,Harishchandra Patrika and Bal Vodhini.^[6]He was a member of the Chowdhury family of Varanasi belonging to the Agrawal community and his home there is still in use. His ancestors were landlords in Bengal.^[5] He had one daughter. He wrote the widely mentioned history of the Agrawalcommunity.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India gives Bharatendu Harishchandra Awards since 1983 to promote original writings in Hindi mass communication.^[7]

His great granddaughter Pratibha Agarwal, (b. 1930), a Hindi writer, co-founded theatre group Anamika in Kolkata in 1955, with theater director Shyamanand Jalan, which played a pioneering role in the revival of Hindi theater and later remained director of Natya Sodha Sansthan.