Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" (21 February 1899 – 15 October 1961) was an Indian poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer who wrote in Hindi. He was also an artist, who drew many contemporary sketches.
Tripathi was born on 21 February 1899 at Mahishadal in Midnapore in Bengal Presidency[1][2] into a Kanyakubja Brahmin family.[3] Nirala's father, Pandit Ramsahaya Tripathi, was a government servant and was a tyrannical person. His mother died when he was very young. Nirala was educated in the Bengali medium at Mahishadal Raj High School at Mahishadal, a princely state in Purba Medinipur.[3][4] Subsequently, he shifted to Lucknow and thence to village Gadhakola of Unnao district, to which his father originally belonged.[5] Growing up, he gained inspiration from personalities like Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, and Rabindranath Tagore.[5]
After his marriage at the age of 20, Nirala learned Hindi at the insistence of his wife, Manohara Devi. Soon, he started writing poems in Hindi, instead of Bengali. After a bad childhood, Nirala had a few good years with his wife. But this phase was short-lived as his wife died when he was 22, and later his daughter (who was a widow) also expired. Nirala lost half of his family, including his wife and daughter, in the 1918 Spanish flu influenza outbreak.[6][7]
Most of his life was somewhat in the bohemian tradition. He wrote strongly against social injustice and exploitation in society. Since he was more or less a rebel, both in form and content, acceptance did not come easily. What he got in plenty was ridicule and derision. All this may have played a role in making him a victim of schizophrenia in his later life and he was admitted to Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi.[8]
Many of Nirala's poems were translated by David Rubin, and are available in the collections, A Season on the Earth: Selected Poems of Nirala (Columbia University Press, 1977), The Return of Sarasvati: Four Hindi Poets (Oxford University Press, 1993), and Of Love and War: A Chayavad Anthology (Oxford University Press, 2005). Nirala : Aatmhanta Astha was a critical analysis of his works written by Doodhnath Singh.[9]
Today, a park, Nirala Uddyan, an auditorium, Nirala Prekshagrah, and a degree college, Mahapran Nirala Degree College, in the Unnao District are named after him.[5]
The Films Division of India produced a short documentary film on his life, titled Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, directed by Rajiv Kumar. It covers his works and achievements.[10]
Sharma makes out a good case for 1899 as the year of Nirala's birth rather than 1896 or 1897, as most historians have it.
He was born on February 21, 1899 at Mahishadal in Mednapur