Background

Sachchidananda Vatsyayan was born on March 7, 1911, in Kushinagar, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India (present-day Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India). He was a son of Hirananda Sahhstri, an archaeologist and Sanskrit scholar. During his childhood, Sachchidananda lived in many different places, including Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Jalandhar, Jammu and other cities.

Education

Initially, Agyeya studied Hindi, English, Persian, Bangla and History at home. Also, he studied Tamil and Sanskrit in a monastery in Udupi. In his later years, Sachchidananda entered an English School in Ooty, however, he soon left it. In 1925, he passed matriculate in Punjab as a private student.

In 1927, Agyeya did Intermediate from Madras Christian College with Maths, Physics and Sanskrit subjects. Then, he attended Forman Christian College in Lahore, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Science in 1929.

Later, he had an intention to recieve a Master of Arts degree in English. Agyeya entered the course, however, he didn't finish it, as he got into the Indian independence movement's underground activities.

Career

After graduation from Forman Christian College in 1929, Sachchidananda joined Punjab University's "Cosmic Ray Expedition" to Kashmir, led by Professor James Martin Baned. In 1930, he was arrested for taking part in the Indian independence movement's underground activities. The following three and a half years he spent in jails of Delhi and Punjab. Moreover, after his release, he was placed under house arrest for two more years.

In 1936, Sachchidananda edited such magazines, as "Sainik" in Agra and "Vishal Bharat" in present-day Kolkata. Later, he worked for All India Radio before joining the Indian Army, where he served as a captain during the period from 1943 till 1946. In 1947, Sachchidananda edited literary magazine "Prateek" in Allahabad, and then, in 1951, he served as an editor for "Vak" magazine.

During the period from 1957 till 1958, the writer travelled in Japan, where he learned about Zen Buddhism, which would later have a great impact on him and his oeuvre. In 1960, he traveled to Europe.

Between 1961 and 1964, Vatsyayan held a post of a visiting educator at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1965, he came back to his native India, where, the same year, he became a founder-editor of "Dinaman", a Hindi language weekly magazine. Sachchidananda continued to live in India till 1968, when he left for a trip to Europe.

In 1969, Sachchidananda was appointed a Regents Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, a post he held till June, 1970. In 1973, he edited the magazine "Naya Prateek" in Delhi, and then, about a year, a weekly, published by Jayaprakash Narayan.

In 1976, Vatsyayan held a position of a visiting professor at Heidelberg University, a position he held for the next eight months. Later, Sachchidananda was appointed a Professor and Head of the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Jodhpur (present-day Jai Narain Vyas University). During the period from 1977 till 1980, he was editor-in-chief of "Navbharat Times", one of the largest circulated, as well as largest read Hindi newspapers.

Moreover, during his lifetime, Sachchidananda translated some books of world literature into Hindi, as well as his own works and the works of other Indian authors to English.

Achievements

• Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, also popularly known by his pen-name "Agyeya", gained prominence as a prolific pioneering writer of modern Hindi poetry, fiction, criticism and journalism. Moreover, interview, as a form of writing, was popularized by Agyeya.
  
  Notable among his works in English translation are the verse collections "First Person, Second Person: A Selection of Poems from the Work of Agyeya" and "Signs and Silence: Selections from the Poetry of Agyeya", both of which were translated from the original Hindi by Agyeya and Leonard E. Nathan. Another notable work by Agyeya is his "Shekhar: Ek Jivani" (translated into English as "Shekhar: A Life").
  
  During his career, the writer received several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1964, Jnanpith Award in 1978, Golden Wreath Award in 1983 and others.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Shekhar: A Life

    (Regarded as one of the most influential Hindi novels of a...)

    2018
  • First Person, Second Person: A Selection of Poems from the Work of 'Agyeya'

    (This work was written and translated into English by Agye...)

    1971
  • To Each His Stranger

    (An exploration into the regions of human loneliness — an ...)

    1967
  • A Sense of Time: Exploration of Time in Theory, Experience and Art

    (The original book "Smrti ke paridrsya" was published in 1...)

    1981
  • Islands in the Stream

    (The original book "Nadi ke dvip" was published in 1952.)

    1981
  • Sarvodaya in a Communist State: a Socio-Economic Study of Gramdan Movement in Kerala

    (Foreword by D. R. Gadgil.)

    1961
  • Nadi Ke Dvip 1952
  • Prison Days and Other Poems 1946

Politics

During the years, when Sachchidananda Vatsyayan was involved into the Indian independence movement's underground activities, he was charged with the task of rescuing Bhagat Singh out of a jail, but the plan was abandoned after the death of Bhagwati Charan Vohra in Lahore bomb blast. When the operation failed, Yashpal, a Hindi-language author, provided Sachchidananda with a shelter in the mountains for about a month under the pseudonym of "Scientist". Later, Agyeya hid in other places under different aliases. In November 1930, Sachchidananda was arrested in Amritsar, having a name of the fictitious identity of Mulla Mohammed Bux. He was kept for one month in a nearby city of Lahore.

During the period from 1930 till 1933, he was kept in jails of Delhi and Punjab in the infamous Delhi Conspiracy Case. Later, Sachchidananda was kept under house arrest for two years.

Moreover, in his lifetime, he was a member of the Anti-Fascist Front.

Views

In many of his works, Agyeya championed individualism and sought to merge Indian and Western thought.

Membership

Sachchidananda Vatsyayan was a member of Progressive Writers Association.

Interests

• Clay modeling, photography, hiking

• Sport & Clubs

  Swimming

Connections

In 1956, Sachchidananda married Kapila (Malik) Vatsyayan. However, the couple divorced in 1969.

Father:

Hirananda Sahhstri

ex-wife:

Kapila (Malik) Vatsyayan

Kapila (Malik) Vatsyayan is a leading scholar of Indian classical dance, art, architecture and art history.

References

• Agyeya Aur Unka Katha Sahitya
  2010