10 Most Famous Indian Poets | Top 10 Indian Poets
Friends, today we are going to tell you about the Top 10 Most Famous Indian Poet, who was one of the great poets of his time, so let’s have a look.
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10. RAHIM
December 17, 1556 – 1627
Born on December 17, 1556, in Lahore, Mughal period (now in Pakistan), he is popularly known as ‘Rahim’. He is believed to be a descendant of Lord Krishna from his maternal side. He was one of the Navaratnas (nine gems) in the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Among the many couplets, one of his translations is: “Do not let the thread of love tangle; Once it breaks, it cannot be rejoined and if you rejoin it, it has a knot. Rahim died in 1627.
Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khana, simply known as Rahim, was a Mughal general and courtier during the time of Emperor Akbar. He was actually one of the Navaratnas or the “Nine Ratnas” in the court of Akbar. He had many military achievements but his poetic legacy carried him for a long time.
As a poet, Rahim is most famous for his couplets, couplets consisting of two lines, each containing 24 examples. Rahim’s couplets are direct lessons for everyday life, touching on topics like friendship, enmity, life and family relationships and kundas.
Apart from couplets, Rahim also wrote Hindu devotional poetry and poems on love and love. Unlike his couplets which are simple and have moral and ethical overtones, his other poetry is more literally complex.
9. KAMALA DAS – Indian Poet
March 31, 1934 – May 31, 2009
Her mother was a famous poetess as well as her Granduncle was a respected writer, Kamala grew up in a culturally rich household. She married at the young age of 15 and the resulting unsatisfactory relationship led her writing to focus on domestic and sexual harassment of women.
Her open and honest assessment of female sexuality made cypionate 250 her work both controversial and acclaimed. Kamala Das’s poetry is known for its impeccable tone just like Sylvia Plath’s. He wrote in English as well as in Malayalam, the language of his native state of Kerala.
To her English audience, she was Kamala Das; In Malayalam, he wrote under the pen name Madhavikutty. She converted to Islam in 1999 and assumed the name Kamala Surya. Kamala Das was one of the leading Indian poets of the 20th century and is known as the mother of modern Indian English poetry.
8. GULJAR
Born: August 18, 1934
Known by his pen name Gulzar, Sampurnan Singh Kalra is probably the most famous living Indian poet. Although he has written poetry collections and directed films, he is best known as a lyricist who has contributed greatly to the Indian film industry.
Born in British India to a Sikh family, Sampoornan moved to Mumbai after Partition. He initially took several monthly jobs to earn a living, including one in a garage at Vichare Motors. Post-college, he got involved with the PWA (Progressive Writers Association) and it was here that renowned Indian film director Bimal Roy encouraged him to join films.
Gulzar’s stature grew when he wrote lyrics for some of the best Hindi songs. He worked with some of the greatest Indian music directors to produce timeless classics that are popular across India. In 2014, Gulzar received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in Indian cinema. He has also won an Oscar and a Grammy for writing the song “Jai Ho” for the film Slumdog Millionaire.
7. MAHADEVI VERMA – Indian Poet
March 26, 1907 – September 11, 1987
He was born in a liberal Hindu family and it was his mother who inspired him to write poems at an early age. Her husband refused to be with her because she was not looking well,
Mahadevi started teaching in village schools around Allahabad. She became the principal, and then vice-chancellor of Prayag Mahila Vidyapeeth, a women’s residential college in Allahabad. As a KAVI poet, Mahadevi Varma is one of the four major poets of the Neo-Romanticism era “Chaivad” in Hindi literature.
She is known as the “modern Mira” because of her emotional intensity and rich imagery of nature. In 1988, Mahadevi Varma was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award. He is called the great poet of Hindi literature and his poems are widely read in schools as part of the curriculum.
6. KABIR
Active: 15th century
A revered saint of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, Kabir was a giant in 15th century India. However, he was critical of both Hinduism and Islam; and instead claimed that the true God is with the one who is on the path of righteousness.
Not much can be established with certainty about the life of Kabir. He is said to have spent his early life in a Muslim family, but it was his teacher, the Hindu devotional leader Ramananda, who influenced his work as well as his life.
Kabir’s poetry is simple yet deep and contains metaphors that are easy for common people to understand. They usually contain a moral that helps the reader understand aspects of life or teaches him a virtue to help him become a better person. Kabir is most famous for his couplets. They are still extremely popular in India and have many references in popular culture.
5. SAROJINI NAIDU – Indian Poet
Age: February 13, 1879 – March 2, 1949
Known as the ‘Nightingale of India’, Sarojini Naidu started her writing career at the age of 13. His first collection of poetry, the widely acclaimed The Golden Threshold, was published in 1905. It combined traditional poetic forms with lush images of India.
Naidu soon became known for his highly skilled use of English poetic forms, as well as for romantic imagery in his poetry. His mastery of difficult poetic compositions earned him worldwide acclaim, including by English writers Edmund Gosse and Arthur Simmons. Naidu explored many themes in his poems including nature, love, death, and patriotism. He also wrote poems for children.
Sarojini Naidu was also a political leader who played an important role during the Civil Disobedience Movement and the “Quit India” movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. She was the first woman president of the Indian National Congress and also the first woman governor of an Indian state.
4. TULSI DAS – Indian Poet
1532 – 1623
Not much is known about his life but many legends are associated with him. He is said to have been abandoned by his parents and raised by Narharidas, who named him Tulsidas.
Tulsidas was a prolific writer and composed at least six major works and six minor works. The most famous of them is the Ramcharitmanas, an epic poem that tells the story of Rama, one of the major Hindu deities. Even though Tulsidas was a great Sanskrit scholar, he wrote Ramcharitmanas in the supernatural Awadhi dialect of Hindi,
So that the story of Rama is accessible to the general public and not only to the Sanskrit speaking elite. The Ramcharitmanas is widely regarded as one of the greatest works of Hindi literature and has been acclaimed as “the tallest tree in the magic garden of medieval Indian poetry”. Tulsidas is, without a doubt, one of the greatest poets of Hindi as well as world literature. He has been admired by Indian and Western scholars alike for his poetry and for his impact on Indian society.
3. KALI DAS – Indian Poet
Active: 4th – 5th century AD
According to legend, Kalidasa was initially a simple and unknown person. When a highly intelligent princess defeated the most learned men of the kingdom, the nobles decided to fool her in front of Kalidasa and told her to remain dumb and let her tell her answers.
The princess was fooled and married Kalidasa but soon realized that he was a great fool. He humiliated her and threw her out of the palace. It was then that Kalidas went to the temple of the Hindu goddess Kali and attained enlightenment. In fact, his name means “one who serves Kali”.
Kalidas is widely regarded as the greatest Indian writer of all time. Although his most famous work is his play Shakuntala, he also wrote at least two epic poems: Raghuvansh and Kumarasambhavam; and some other short poems. Kalidas has had a great influence on Indian literature and many later writers including Rabindranath Tagore have been influenced by his works. Kalidasa became widely known to Western writers in the 18th century and has had an impact on Western literature since then.
2. RABINDRANATH TAGORE
May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941
Referred to as the “Bard of Bengal”, Rabindranath Tagore is a towering figure of world literature and the most famous modern Indian poet (KAVI). He wrote poetry from the age of eight and published his first major collection of poetry, Bhanusingh Thakur Padavali, at the age of 16. His best-known work was published in poetry, Gitanjali, in 1910.
Tagore himself translated his works into English and The English Geetanjali or Geet Proposal was published in 1912. The following year, Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature largely for this book. This made him the second non-European, after Theodore Roosevelt, to receive the Nobel Prize. Tagore was a prolific writer who, in addition to many poems, also wrote plays, short stories, and novels and translated some of them into English.
The major theme in Tagore’s poetry is the essential unity of all composition, which is also the main theme of the Upanishads, ancient Sanskrit texts, which contain some of the central philosophical concepts and ideas of Hinduism. Among Tagore’s various achievements, is composing national anthems for two nations, India as well as Bangladesh, and a third of Sri Lanka.
1. Mirza Ghalib – Indian Poet
December 27, 1797 – February 15, 1869
Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, better known as Ghalib, was an Urdu and Persian poet who remains a poetic figure in many countries, notably India and Pakistan. Born in Agra to an aristocratic Muslim family, he was orphaned at the age of 5. He started writing at the age of 11 and got married at the age of 13.
He spent his life writing poetry for patrons in the Mughal court. During his time there, he was infamous for drinking and gambling; But his fame has grown steadily since his death. A ghazal is a lyrical poem consisting of a fixed number of verses and a repeated sung, usually on the theme of love, and normally set to music.
Although Ghalib wrote in many genres, he is most famous for his ghazals and is considered the greatest and most influential poet of Urdu and Persian ghazals (KAVI). His poetry is known for the intensity of emotion it conveys, its perfect form, and the deep thoughts it conveys. Although not as critically acclaimed during his lifetime as some of the poets on this list, Mirza Ghalib is probably the most famous Indian poet.
Top Indian Poets Of All Time | Most Famous Indian Poets
Makhanlal Chaturvedi: (KAVI )
He was born on April 4, 1889 in the village of Bawai, Madhya Pradesh. Pandit Makhanlal Chaturvedi was a famous poet of Hindi literature. He was the editor of national magazines like ‘Prabha’ and ‘Karmaveer’.
His collection of poems includes ‘Him Tarangini’, ‘Pan Samarpan’, ‘Yug Charan’, ‘Deep Se Deep Jale’ Sahitya Devta’, ‘Kisa Chand Hai Naam Hai’, and ‘Pushp Ki Abhilasha’. In 1954, he was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for his work ‘Him Tarangini’. He died on January 30, 1968.
Telugusharan Gupt:
Born on August 03, 1889, in Chirgaon, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, Maithilisharan Gupta was an eminent poet of modern Hindi literature. Who introduced Khari Boli – a dialect – in Hindi writing. His striking verses are ‘Saket’, In Rang Me Bhang’, Bharat Bharati ‘Vacation of Plassey’, and Kaaba Karbala. He was also associated with Indian politics for some time. He breathed his last on December 2, 1964.
Harivansh Rai Bachchan:
This torch bearer of the Chaiwad (romantic) generation was born on November 27, 1907 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. He is known for ‘Madhushala’ – a book of verses. He worked very hard in promoting Hindi as the official language of India.
During his tenure in the Ministry of External Affairs, he translated some major works into Hindi, including the works of Othello, Macbeth, Bhagavad Gita, Rubaiyat and W.B.
Among his other acclaimed works, the four-part serial biography, ‘Kya Bhool Kya Yaar Karoon’, ‘Need Ka Niraman Phir ‘Basare Se Dwar’ and the last ‘Dashdwar Se Sopan Tak’ also needs a mention. He died on January 18, 2003.
Sumitranandan Pant:
He was born on May 20, 1900 in Kumaon, Uttarakhand. This being a place, which was rich in flora and fauna, it was common for Sumitranandan to develop an inclination towards nature. He took up poetry at a very young age. At some point, he was under the influence of Sri Aurobindo.
In 1961, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Jnanpith Award in 1968 for his most famous poems ‘Chidambara’. Apart from ‘Pallav’, ‘Veena’, ‘Granthi’ and ‘Gunjan’, his other acclaimed work is ‘Kala Bar Chand’, for which he received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award. He died on 28 December 1977.
Jaishankar Prasad:
Born on January 30, 1889 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Jaishankar Prasad was like the father-man of modern Hindi literature. A special mention for his Mahavakya (Epic Poem) (Kamayani’,’. The poem depicts human love beautifully. Jaishankar Prasad’s poetry ranged from romantic to patriotic. Prasad was deeply influenced by the Vedas. 14 January He died in 1937.
Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala:
He led the Chayavad movement along with Pant, Prasad and Mahadevi Varma. Nirala was born on 16 February 1896 in Midnapore, Bengal. While growing up, he was inspired by some great personalities like Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore. Originally educated in Bengali medium, Nirala later moved to Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh where he began writing in Hindi. Some of his works include, ‘Saroj Shakti’, ‘Kukurmutta’, ‘Dhavani’, ‘Shakti Puja of Rama’, ‘Parimal’ and ‘Anamika’. He breathed his last on October 15, 1961.
Ramdhari Singh Dinkar:
He was born on 23 September 1908 in Simaria, Bihar. His writings from the pre-independence era were rebellious in nature. Because of his patriotic works, he was given the title of Rastrakavi (National Poet). Being a poet of the Veera rasa (courage) genre, he pledged in favor of war at ‘Kurukshetra’, noting that the war was disastrous, the Mahabharata war was inevitable so that freedom could be protected. His main works are ‘Rahmi-Rathi’ and ‘Parshuram Ki Pratiksha’. He died on April 24, 1974.
Siddharth Anand:
Siddhartha is pursuing his graduation from Delhi University (India). He has many interests and hobbies and wants to explore all the dimensions of his existence. He has also written a collection of 150 poems and paints.
Some abstract art can be found on their website. She is also a model and has also done a music video. He has also won many university-level debates in India. He also works as a voice and accent trainer and is a professional anchor.