Harindranath Chattopadhyay
Indian poet
Who was Harindranath Chattopadhyay?
Harindranath Chattopadhyay (2 April 1898 – 23 June 1990) was an Indian English poet, dramatist, actor, musician, and a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from Vijayawada constituency. He was the younger brother of Sarojini Naidu, the second woman President of the Indian National Congress and first Indian woman to hold the position, and Virendranath Chattopadhyay, an international communist revolutionary. His father earned a Doctorate of Science from the University of Edinburgh, and settled in Hyderabad State, where he founded and acted as head of the Hyderabad College, which later became the Nizam's College in Hyderabad. His mother was a poet and used to write poetry in Bengali. His other interests were politics, music, theatre and cinema. He wrote in English but of topics relating to ancient Indian culture and Vedic ideas.
Historical significance
The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1973. Chattopadhyay, a poet and singer, is famous for poems such as Noon and Shaper Shaped. His first book of poems, The Feast of Youth, was published when he was 19 years old, and received praise from Arthur Quiller-Couch and James Henry Cousins.