Hazari Prasad Dwivedi Biography

Hazari Prasad Dwivedi is a well-known critic, novelist, literary historian and essayist of Hindi literature. He wrote innumerable novels, essays and a historical outline of Hindi literature. He was born in 1907 in a small village of Arat-Dubeka Chhapra, in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. He was passionate about astrology, Sanskrit, and Indian religion and culture. He received his early education in Sanskrit.

After passing his Intermediate examination in 1930, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi passed Astrology examination from Banaras Hindu University and was awarded the title of Acharya. He went to Shantiniketan to teach. From 1940 to 1950 he was appointed as the Director of Hindi Bhavan in Visvabharati. Under the influence of Rabindranath Tagore, Kshitimohan Sen, Vidhusekhar Bhattacharya and Banarasidas Chaturvedi his interest in literary activities increased.

Hazari Prasad Dwivedi belonged to the post-Acharya Shukla phase of history of Hindi literature. He was a scholarly person who mastered many languages and was well acquainted with their literature such as Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Apabramsa, and Hindi. He was also well versed in Gujarati and Punjabi. Through his knowledge of English he learnt the classics of ancient Greece and also Western philosophy.

In 1957, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi was honored with ‘Padma Bhushan’. In 1960 he joined as the Professor and Head of the Department of Hindi of Punjab University, Chandigarh. Few years before his retirement, he again joined Banaras Hindu University as its Rector. In1973, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of essays Alok Parva. He was conferred with a D.Litt. by Lucknow University. He was chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Academy, till his death in Lucknow.

Some of Hazari Prasad Dwivedi’s major works are:
Vichar Pravah, Kutuj, Ashok Ke Phool, Kalpalta (Collection of Essays)
Banabhatta ki aatmkatha, Charuchandralekh, Punarnava, Anamdas ka Potha (Novels)
Sur-Sahitya, Kabir, Sahitya-Sahchar, Kalidas ki Lalitya Yojna, Hindi Sahitya: Udbhav aur Vikas, Hindi Sahitya ka Adikaal (History)

Hazari Prasad Dwivedi passed away in the year 1979.