Jayshankar Prasad

Jaishankar Prasad was a prominent figure in modern Hindi literature and theater who was known by his pen name “Prasad” and also as “Chhayavadi kavi.” He initially wrote under the pen name “Kaladhar” and his early works were in the Braj Bhasha dialect. He later transitioned to the Khadi dialect and Sanskritized Hindi. Prasad wrote several poetry collections, dramas, story collections, and novels. 

Prasad was instrumental in promoting Chhayavad, (approximated in English as “Romanticism,” not to be confused with the English Romantic period), a significant literary trend in Hindi literature from the 1920s through the 1930s. He is recognized as one of the Four Pillars of Romanticism in Hindi literature alongside Sumitranandan Pant, Mahadevi Verma, and Suryakant Tripathi “Nirala.” Prasad’s poetry primarily employs Sanskrit (Tatsama) and Sanskrit-derived (Tadbhava) words, avoiding Persian elements, and covers a wide range of subjects, from romance to nationalism.

Prasad’s Kamayani (1936) is considered an important work of the Chhayavadi school of Hindi poetry. In addition to his poetry, Prasad’s dramas are highly regarded, especially those based on historical and mythological themes. His play Skanda Gupta (1928) was successfully revived with minimal alterations to the original script in the 1960s for modern Indian theater by Shanta Gandhi, a professor of Ancient Indian Drama at the National School of Drama.