Biography
Sumitranandan Pant or Sumitra Nandan Pant (Hindi: ???????? ???? ???) was one of the most famous modern Hindi poets. He is considered one of the major poets of the Chhayavaadi school of Hindi literature. Pant mostly wrote in Sanskritized Hindi. Pant authored twenty eight published works including poetry, verse plays and essays.
Pant was born at Kausani village of Bageshwar, in the hills of Kumaon. His mother died within a few hours of his birth. He was given the name Gosain Dutt. His initial schooling took place in Almora. After matriculation he moved to Kalakankar near Prayag. He did not like his name so he gave himself a new name "Sumitranandan Pant".
The mark of the childhood in the hills can be seen in his works and his poems resound with an echo of the beauty of nature. He was a shy and girlish child and his classmates often used to tease him calling him 'girl'.
For his graduation, Pant went to Prayag University. On hearing Mahatma Gandhi's call for Satyagraha, he left college. However, he continued his education by reading English, Sanskrit and Bengali literature. After some time, he went to Sri Aurobindo's ashram at Pondicherry.
Apart from Chhayavaadi poems, Pant also wrote progressive, philosophical (influenced by Sri Aurobindo), socialist and humanist poems.
Pant received 1968 Jnanpith Award for collection of his most famous poems, titled Chidambara. He was awarded the Nehru Peace Prize by the Soviet Union for Lokayatan. Pant received "Sahitya Kala Academy" award for "Kala Aur Budhdha Chand". Indian Government honored him with 'Padmavibhushan'.
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.
Sumitra Nandan Pant also composed the Kulgeet of IIT Roorkee, "Jayati Jayati Vidya Sansthan".
Amitabh Bachchan on 25 November 2010 in an episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati, stated that Shri Pant was a friend of Harivansh Rai Bachchan and was present at the time of his birth . On seeing the baby he said - "He is Amitabh". ..
