Ramdhari Singh Dinkar - Biography

Biography

He was born to a poor Bhumihar Brahmin family in Simariya village, in the Begusarai district of Bihar. As a student, his favorite subjects were history, politics and philosophy. He studied Hindi, Sanskrit, Maithili, Bengali, Urdu and English literature. Dinkar was greatly influenced by Iqbal, Rabindranath Tagore, Keats and Milton. He translated works of Rabindranath Tagore from Bengali to Hindi. The poetic persona of the poet Dinkar was shaped by the pressures and counter-pressures of life during the freedom movement. Five feet eleven, shining white complexion, long high nose, large ears, broad forehead - his appearance answered to some such description. He was born on 23 September 1908, in Simariya village of Monghyr district (now in Begusarai District) in Bihar.

When he was a student of Mokama High School, it was not possible for him to stay on till school closed at four p.m. He had to leave the class after lunch break so that he could catch the steamer back home. He could not afford to be in the hostel which would have enabled him to attend all periods. How could a student who had no shoes on his feet manage the hostel fees? His poetry shows the impact of poverty. This was the environment in which Dinkar grew up and became a nationalist poet of radical views. In 1920, Dinkar saw Mahatma Gandhi for the first time. About this time, in the third decade of 20th century, he founded Manoranjan Library at Simariya. He also edited a handwritten Pamphlet.