Vijaydan Detha

Infobox Writer
name = Vijaydan Detha

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birthdate = Birth date and age|1926|9|1
birthplace = Borunda Rajasthan
deathdate =
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occupation = writer
nationality = Indian
period =
genre = fiction, satirist, folk-lore
subject = socialist, anti-feudal, feminist
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spouse = Sayar Kanwar
partner =
children = Kuberdan, Mahendra
relatives =
influences = Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Ravindra Nath Tagore, Karl Marx
influenced =


website =

Vijaydan Detha also known as Bijji is a noted writer from Rajasthan and a recepeient of Padma Shri award. He is also recipient of several other awards such as Sahitya Akademi Award and Sahitya Chudamani Award.

He has more than 800 short stories to his credit, which are translated into English and other languages. He is co-founder of Rupayan Sansthan with late Komal Kothari, an institute that documents Rajasthani folk-lore, arts and music. His literary works include "Bataan ri Phulwari" (garden of tales), a fourteen volume collection of stories that draws on folk-lore and spoken dialects of Rajasthan. His stories and novels have been adapted for many plays and movies including Habib Tanvir's "Charandas Chor" and Amol Palekar’s "Paheli".

Early life

Vijaydan Detha hails from charan caste. His father Sabaldan Detha and grandfather Jugtidan Detha were also well known poets of Rajasthan. Detha lost his father and two brothers in a feud at the age of four year. At the age of six he moved to Jaitaran (25 km from Borunda) where his brother Sumerdan used to work in civil court. He studied there till class IV. Than his brother transferred to Barmer and Detha continued his study at there. Detha in his school years was poor in English language and had to face many embarrassing moments. In Barmer, while competing with another student Narsinghraj Purohit, he realized that he wants to be a writer. His brother than transferred to Jodhpur where Detha studied in Durbar School.

Vijaydan Detha considers Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay as his first inspirer. He is equally good fan of Chekov. In beginning he was critical of Tagore but after reading Tagore's Stripatra he became fan of Tagore.

Detha joined college in 1944, by that time he had already established his name in poetry, however he gives credit for it to his cousin brother Kuberdan Detha, who had left school after standard X. Vijaydan says he use to pass his cousins poems in his name, applause brought from those poems made him to think to establish his own name in writing.

One of his first books to create a storm was Bapu Ke Teen Hatyare. The book is critique of the work of Harivanshrai Bachchhan, Sumitra Nadan Pant and Narendra Sharma. The trio brought out books about Gandhi within two months of Gandhi's death. Quote
Nathuram Godse may have killed Gandhi physically, but these three writers killed his soul
Vijaydan Detha
"Bapu Ke Teen Hatyare"

In 1950-52, Detha reda and was inspired by 19th Century Russian literature. That is when he thought if you do not want to be mediocre writer, he should return to his village and write in Rajasthani. By that time he had already written 1300 poems and 300 short stories.

Works

Hindi

* "Usha", 1946, poetry
* "Bapu ke teen hatyare", 1948, critics
* "Column in Jwala Weekly", 1949-1952
* "Sahitya aur samaj", 1960, essays
* "Anokha Ped", illustrated children's stories, 1968
* "Phoolwari", Hindi translation by Kailash Kabir, 1992
* "Chaudharain Ki Chaturai", short stories, 1996
* "Antaral", 1997, short stories
* "Sapan Priya", 1997, short stories
* "Mero Darad Na Jane Koy", 1997, essays
* "Atirikta", 1997, critics
* "Mahamilan", novel, 1998
* "Priya Mrinal", short stories, 1998

Rajasthani

* "Batan Ri Phulwari", vol. 1-14, 1960-1975, folk lores
* "Prerana" co-edited with Komal Kothari, 1953Soratha, 1956-1958
* "Parampara ", edited three special issues - Folk songs, Gora Hatja, Jethava Ra * "Rajasthani Lokgeet", folk songs of Rajasthan, six volumes, 1958
* "Tido Rao", first pocket book in Rajasthani, 1965
* "Uljhan",1984, novel
* "Alekhun Hitler", 1984, short stories
* "Roonkh", 1987
* "Kaboo Rani", 1989, children's stories

Detha also been credited for editing following works
* Complete work of Ganeshi Lal Vyas for Sahitya Akademi
* Rajasthani-Hindi Kahawat Kosh

Awards and honors

*Sahitya academy award for Rajasthani in 1974 Who's is who of Indian writers 1999 ]
*Bhartiya Bhasa Parishad Award in 1992
*Marudhara Puraskar in 1995
*Sahitya Chudamani Award in 2006 Interview on Tehelka ]
*Padmashri in 2007 Indian National Portal, Govt. of India ]

Notes

References

*cite web
last =Padmanabhan
first =Chitra
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =The English Adversary
work =
publisher =Tehelka
date = 2006-01-21
url =http://www.tehelka.com/story_main16.asp?filename=hub012106The_English.asp
format = asp
doi =
accessdate =
archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5TGzJFAtR
archivedate = 2007-11-11

*cite book
last = Dutt
first = Kartik Chandra
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Who's Who of Indian Writers
publisher =Sahitya Akademi
date =1999
location =India
pages =317-318
url =
doi =
id =
isbn =8126008733
*cite web
title = Padma Shri Award
url = http://india.gov.in/myindia/padmashri_awards_list1.php
date=
publisher=National Portal of India, Govt. of India
accessdate = 2007-12-05

*cite web
title = Biodata - Vijaydan Detha
publisher = Shree Sabal Woman Teacher's Training College, Borunda, Jodhpur
url = http://www.ssmttc.net/biodata_vijaydanji.htm
date = 2007-10-15
accessdate = 2007-12-10
archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5TyPJ0H3a
archivedate = 2007-12-10

External links

* [http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/?author=VijayDanDetha Read Detha's two stories translated in English from World without border]
* [http://www.tehelka.com/story_main16.asp?filename=hub012106The_English.asp Detha's interview on Tehelka]
* [http://www.indianautographs.com/productdetail-111098.html Detha's Authograph and picture]