Dushyant Kumar

September 27, 2009

A commemorative postage stamp on the Birth Anniversary of Dushyant Kumar Tyagi, a modern Hindi poet :

Issued by India

Issued on Sep 27, 2009

Issued for : The Department of Posts is happy to commemorate achievements with the issue of a postage stamp on Dushyant Kumar.

Credits :
Stamp & FDC : Brahm Prakash
Cancellation : Alka Sharma

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Multi colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Stamps Printed : 0.4 Million

Printing Process : Wet–offset

Printer : India Security Press, Nasik

Name : Dushyant Kumar Tyagi

Born on Sep 27, 1931 at Rajpur Navada, Bijnor District, Uttar Pradesh, British India

Died on Dec 30, 1975 at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

About :

Dushyant Kumar was born on 27^th September 1931 at Rajpur-Nawada in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh in a landowning agriculturist family. His literary sensibilities were apparent in his childhood as he started writing poetry when he was in the High school. The early poetic form that he chose was that of a ‘Geet’ but the subjects were as varied as love, poverty, nationalism, social orthodoxy etc. His poetry gradually matured during his college days and later when he went to Allahabad University from where he did his M.A. in Hindi Literature in 1954. Allahabad at that time was the hub of literary activity and that particular period was a turning point in the history of Hindi literature. There he came in contact with eminent literary figures like Sumitranandan Pant, Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Dharamveer Bharati as well as with the younger generation of writers who were the pioneers of the new progressive and experimental writing. Dushyant Kumar was very close to Kamleshwar and Markandeya. Initially, he worked for the All India Radio and then in the State Government of Madhya Pradesh.
Dushyant Kumar was of the firm belief that poetry can prove its true potential only when it emerges out of real social contexts. He did not believe in any school or literary dogma. He started writing in ‘free verse’ that gave primary to ‘heart’ over ‘mind’ and ‘content’ over ‘form’. He was searching for an idiom and a poetic form that was natural and simple to understand. The poetic vision led him to believe in a creative recreation of the reality of common life. His poetry collections like Surya ka Swagat, Aawazon ke Ghere and Jalte Hue Van ka Vasant brought a new warmth and faith that was in contrast to the gloomy poetry of self-obsession and pessimism. His poetry further advocated his view that the reader and not the critic is the ultimate judge, as he said, “These poems are mine only to the extent that I have written and lived them. If you find in them a voice that seems familiar, an intimate language and something of yours, then I am successful.”
By early 70s, Dushyant Kumar had reinvented the ‘Ghazal’. He chose this traditional but meticulous and complex genre and gave it a new lease of life. Ghazal had come to Hindi literature through Urdu and many poets had written Ghazals in Hindi before, but it was Dushyant’s magical use of language and vivid imageries to express intimate experiences and social reality that established the ghazal as a powerful genre in Hindi, particularly at a time when this genre had become moribund in India. At the level of language, Dushyant unified the literary legacies of Hindi and Urdu as he blended simple Hindi and Urdu words. He voiced common people’s feelings and upheld the struggle for democratic and universal human values. In addition to poetry, Dushyant Kumar wrote a poetry-drama, Ek Kanth Vishpayee and two novels, Aangan Mein Ek Vriksha and Chote Chote Sawal besides some critical essays and memoirs.
Dushyant’s ghazals, collected and published as Saaye Mein Dhoop (1975) have become so popular that his couplets are quoted even today. It would not be hyperbolic to say that after Kabir’s Dohas, only Dushyant’s ghazals and couplets have penetrated the collective consciousness and still persist in the public memory.
Dushyant Kumar was a common man’s poet whose untimely death on December 30, 1975 left behind an irreplaceable void.
Text : Sujit Kumar Chaudhary.