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Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan, (सच्चिदानंद हीरानंद वात्स्यायन) popularly known by his pen-name, Agyeya (Hindi: अज्ञेय, lit. Unknowable), was a pioneering writer of modern Hindi poetry, fiction, criticism and journalism. He was one of the most prominent exponents of the Nayi Kavita (नयी कविता - New Poetry) and Prayogavaad (प्रयोगवाद - Experimentalism) movements in modern Hindi literature.^[1][2] He also edited the Saptaks, a literary series, and started the Hindi newsweekly Dinaman.^[3]

Agyeya also translated some of his own works, as well as works of some other Indian authors to English. He also translated some books of world literature into Hindi.

Early life and education

Sachchidananda Vatsyayan was born on 7 March 1911 in a tent at Kasya, Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh.^[4] His father Hirananda Sahhstri was an archaeologist, who was also a scholar of Sanskrit.^[5] His childhood was spent in many different places, including Gorakhpur, Lucknow(1911–15), Nalanda(1919–25), Udupi, Madras, Jalandhar, Jammu(1915–19) and Srinagar.

He was home tutored Hindi, English, Persian, Bangla and History. He learned Tamil and Sanskrit in a monastery in Udupi. He was enrolled in an English School in Ooty which he left and returned home to pass matriculate in 1925 in Punjab as a private student.
He did Intermediate from Madras Christian College in 1927 with Maths, Physics and Sanskrit subjects, thereafter studied at Forman Christian College, Lahore, where he did his BSc in Industrial Science 1929. After graduation he was included in Punjab University's "Cosmic Ray Expedition" to Kashmir under Prof. James Martin Baned. He joined M.A. English, but couldn't complete his studies as soon he joined the Indian independence movement's underground activities with Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sukhdev and Yashpal, after about a year of enrollment in M.A.

He was given the task to transport Bhagat Singh out of jail in a truck by Chandrashekhar Azad but this plan was abandoned after the death of Bhagwati Charan Vohra in Lahore bomb blast. After this incident, Yashpal hid him in the mountains for about a month under the alias of 'Scientist', after which, he hid in several places under many pseudonyms. In November 1930 he was arrested under the fictitious identity of Mulla Mohammed Bux in Amritsar. He was kept in Lahore for one month, then spent three and a half years (1930–33) in jails of Delhi and Punjab in the infamous Delhi Conspiracy Case. Later he remained under house arrest for two months in the Fort and for two years at home. His classic novel-trilogy Shekhar: Ek Jivani was a product of those prison days. The third part of the novel was never published because the manuscript was seazed by the jailer and never returned.^{[citation needed]}

In the beginning he was associated with the PWA (Progressive Writers Association) and was a member of the Anti-Fascist Front. During World War II in the wake of the fascist Japanese attack's threat he joined Indian ( that time Allied) Force for three years (1943–1946) as a Captain by mobilising people's resistance against the enemy. He left the army when the war was over.

Agyeya married Kapila Vatsyayan (née Malik) in 1956. They separated in 1969.^[6]

Career

Agyeya edited "Sainik" from Agra (1936), "Vishal Bharat" from Calcutta (now Kolkata) (1936) and "Prateek" (1947) and "Naya Prateek" (1973) respectively from Allahabad and New Delhi. In English he edited "Vak" (1951) also.

He also worked for All India Radio for a short time, before joining the army in 1943.

He travelled extensively, both in India and abroad. He travelled to Japan in 1957-58, where he learned about Zen Buddhism which influenced him and his writing style. He travelled to Europe again in 1960 where he retreated in Pier-de-Quer Monastery. Between 1961 and 1964, he held a visiting faculty position at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 1965, he returned to India and became Founder Editor of the newsweekly Dinaman of the Times of India Group. When the members of the Hungry generation or Bhookhi Peerhi movement were arrested and prosecuted for their anti-establishment writings, 'Ajneya' through Dinmaan relentlessly supported the young literary group of Kolkata till they were exonerated. His dispatches on Bihar's famous famine are considered milestones in pro-people reporting.

He remained in India till 1968, before embarking on a trip to Europe. In 1969 he returned to Berkeley as Regents Professor, and continued there till June 1970. In 1976, he had an 8-month stint at Heidelberg University, as a Visiting Professor. Later he joined University of Jodhpur, Rajasthan as Professor and Head of the Deptt. of Comparative Literature.

He served as Editor of Jayprakash Narayan's Everyman's Weekly (1973–74) and Editor-in-Chief of Hindi daily Navbharat Times (1977–80) of the Times of India Group.

Interview, as a form of writing, was popularized by Agyeya. Five interviews with him are available today.

He died on 4 April 1987 in New Delhi.

Literary works

Poetry anthologies:

• Bhagndoot (1933)


• Chinta (1942)


• Ityalam (1946)


• Hari ghaas par kshan-bhar (1949)


• Baawra aheri (1954)


• Indradhanu raunde hue ye (1957)


• Ari o karuna prabhamaya (1959)


• Aangan ke paar dvaar (1961)


• Poorva (1965)


• Sunahale Shaivaal (1965)


• Kitni naavon mein kitni baar (1967)


• Kyonki main usei jaanta hoon (1969)


• Saagar-mudra (1970)


• Pahle main sannata bunta hoon (1973)


• Mahavriksha ke neeche (1977)


• Nadi ki baank par chhaya (1982)


• Sadanira-1 (1986)


• Sadanira-2 (1986)


• Aisa koi ghar aapne dekha hai (1986)


• Maruthal (1995)


• Sarjana ke kshan (Selection)


• Thaur thikaane (Handwritten, circulated zeroxed)


• Karaawas ke din (Trans. from English by Uday Shankar Shrivastava)


• Kavishri ( Ed. Shiyaram Sharan Gupt)


• Aaj ke lokpriy kavi (Ed. Vidya Niwas Mishra)


• Kaavya-stabak ( Ed by Vidya Niwas Mishra & Ramesh Chandra Shah)


• Sannate ka chhand (Ed by Ashok Vajpeyi)


• Ajneya: Sanklit kavitayen (Ed by Namvar Singh)

Novels:

• Shekhar: Ek Jeevani I (1941)


• Shekhar: Ek Jeevani II (1944)


• Shekhar: Ek Jeevni III (Unpublished)


• Nadi ke dweep (1952)


• Apne-apne ajnabi (1961)


• Barahkhambha (co-writer, 1987)


• Chhaya mekhal (Incomplete, 2000)


• Beenu bhagat (Incomplete, 2000)

Stories anthologies:

• Vipathga (1937)


• Parmpara (1944)


• Kothri ki baat (1945)


• Sharnaarthi (1948)


• Jaydol (1951)


• Amarvallari tatha anya kahaniyan(1954)


• Kadiayan tatha anya kahaniyan (1957)


• Acchute phool tatha anya kahaniyan (1960)


• Ye tere pratiroop (1961)


• Jigyasa tatha anya kahaniyan (1965)


• Meri priy kahaniyan (Selection,2004)


• Chhorra hua rasta (Sampoorn kahanitan-1, 1975)


• Lautti pagdandiyan (Sampoorn kahaniyan-2, 1975)


• Sampoorn Kahaniyan (2005)


• Adam Ki diary (Ed by Nand Kishore Acharya, 2002)

Play:

• Uttar Priyadarshi

Travelogue:

• Are Yayavar Rahega Yaad (1953)


• Kirnon ki khoj mein (Selection,1955)


• Ek Boond Sahsa Uchhli (1960)

Criticism:

• Trishanku


• Hindi sahitya: Ek adhunik paridrishya


• Atmanepad


• Aatmparak


• Aalwaal


• Likhi kagad kore


• Jog likhi


• Adyatan


• Samvatsar


• Smriti ke paridrishya


• Srot aur setu


• Vyakti aur vyavastha


• Yug-sandhiyon par


• Dhaar aur kinaare


• Bhartiya kala drishti


• Smritichhanda


• Kendra aur paridhi


• Srijan: kyon air kaise


• Kavi-Nikash


• Kavi-drishti (Prefaces)


• Tadbhav (Selection by Ashok Vajpeyi)


• Lekhak ka Dayittva (Ed by Nand Kishore Acharya)


• Khule Mein Khada Ped (Ed by Nand Kishore Acharya)

Light Essyas:

• Sab rang


• Sab rang aur kuchh raag


• Kahan hai dwaraka


• Chhaya ka jangal

Diary:

• Bhavanti


• Antara


• Shaswati


• Shesha


• Kaviman (Ed by Ila Dalmia Koirala)

Memoirs:

• Smriti-lekha


• Smriti ke galiyaron se


• Main kyun likhta hoon

Edited:

• Taar Saptak


• Doosra Saptak


• Teesra Saptak


• Chautha Saptak


• Pushkarini


• Naye ekanki


• Nehru abhinandan granth (co-editor)


• Roopambara (Sumitrnandan Pant abhinandan granth)


• Homvati smarak granth


• Sarjan aur sampreshan


• Sahitya ka parivesh


• Sahity aur samaj parivartan


• Samajik yatharth aur katha-bhasha


• Samkaleen kavita mein chhand


• Bhavishya aur sahitya


• Indian Poetic Tradition (With Vidya Niwas Mishra and Leonard Nathan)

Introducing:

• Naye Sahitya Srishta-1 Raghuveer Sahay: Seedihiyon par dhoop mein


• Naye Sahitya Srishta-2 Sarveshawar Dayal Saxena: Kaath ki ghantiyan


• Naye Sahitya Srishta-3 Ajit Kumar: Ankit hone do


• Naye Sahitya Srishta-4 Shanti Mehrotra

Conversations:

• Aparoksh, Ramesh Chandra Shah & others


• Rachna: Kyon aur kinke beech, Sharad Kumar, Geeti Sen & Others


• Agyeya Apne bare mein (AIR Archives), Raghuveer Sahay & Gopal Das


• Kavi Nayak Ajneya, Ila Dalmia & Neelima Mathur

In English:

• Prison days and other poems (Poetry)


• A sense of time (Essays)

Selection (general):
Sanchayita (Ed Nand Kishore Acharya)

Translations:

• Shrikant (Sharat Chandra, from Bengali, 1944)


• Gora (Rabindranath Thakur, from Bengali)


• Raja (Rabindranath Thakur, from Bengali)


• Vivekanand (With Raghuvir Sahay, from Bengali)


• The resignation (Jainendra Kumar, into English)


• The seventh horse of the sun (Dharmveer Bharti, into English)


• The Silent waters (Poems of Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena, in 'Thought')


• Vazir ka Feela (Ivo Andric, from English)


• Mahayatra (Pär Lagerkvist's trilogy, from English)

Self-translated works:

• Islands in the stream (Nadi ke dweep, into English)


• To each his stranger (Apne apne ajnabi, into English)


• The unmastered lute and other poems (Asadhya Veena and other poems into English, Ed by Pritish Nandy)


• The revolving rock and other poems (Chakrant Shila and other poems into English, Ed Pritish Nandy)


• First Person, Second Person (Poems, into English with Leonard Nathan)


• Signs and silences (Poems, into English with Leonard Nathan)


• Nilambari (Poems, into English)


• Truculent clay (Bhavanti, into English with Manas Mukul Das)


• Preparing the ground (Antara, into English with Manas Mukul Das)

Translations in other languages:
(Indian languages list too long)

• German: Sekh Ktoratien (By Lothar Lutze)


• : Stand-orte (By Lothar Lutze)


• Swedish : Den arket (By orten Al Bud)


• Servo-Croatian: Catoetien


• : prvo liche drugo liche


• :Vsak ima svoyega tuicha (By Tregoslav Andrich)

Films on Ajneya:

• Sarswat Van Ka Bavra Aheri, Producer Durgavati Singh, Doordarshan, New Delhi


• Sannate ka Chhand, Dir. Pramod & Neelima Mathur, Vatsal Nidhi, New Delhi


• Deep Akela, Dir. Pramod Mathur, MGAHVV, Wardha


• Kavi Bharti, Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal

Awards and honours

• 
  Sahitya Akademi Award 1964 for Aangan Ke Par Dvar (Poetry).


• 
  Jnanpith Award in 1978, for 'Kitni Naavon mein kitni baar', and the anthology of poems.^[7]
  


• Bharatbharati Award


• 
  Golden Wreath Award for poetry in 1983.^[8]
  

Dramatic productions

His verse play Uttar Priyadarshi, about the redemption of King Ashoka was first staged in 1966 at Triveni open-air theatre in Delhi in presence of the writer. Later it was adapted to Manipuri, by theatre director, Ratan Thiyam in 1996, and since been performed by his group, in various parts of the world.^[9][10]

Further reading

• Sannate ka Chhand, Anand Kumar Singh, KA Prakashan, New Delhi


• Ajneya: Kathakaar Aur Vicharak, by Vijay Mohan Singh, Parijat Prakashan, Patna


• Ajneya aur Adhunik Racna ki Samasya, by Ramswarup Chaturvedi, Lokbharti, Allahabad


• Ajneya aur Unka Sahitya, by Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari. National Publishing House, New Delhi


• Ajneya: Ek Adhyayan, by Bholabhai Patel, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi


• Ajneya: Van ka Chhand, by Vidya Niwas Mishra, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi


• Ajneya ki Kavya Titirsha, by Nand Kishore Acharya, Vagdevi Prakashan, Bikaner


• Adhunik Hindi Kavya mein Vyaktittva, Ajneya ke Vishesh Sandarbha mein, by Ramkamal Rai, Lokbharti, Allahabad


• Shikhar Se Sagar Tak(Biography), by Ram Kamal Rai, National Publishing House, New Delhi


• Ajneya Aur Unka Katha Sahitya, by Gopal Rai, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi


• Ajneya Ki Kavita, by Chandrakant Bandivadekar, Vinod Pustak Mandir, Agra


• Ajnyeya: Vichar ka Swaraj, by Krishna Dutt Paliwal, Pratibha Pratishthan, New Delhi


• Ajneya: Kavi-karm ka Sankat, by Krishna Dutt Paliwal, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi


• Ajneya ka Katha-sahitya, A. Arvindakshan, Kochin


• Ajneya ka Antahprakriya Sahitya, by Mathuresh Nandan Kulshreshtha, Chitralekha Prakashan, Allahabad


• Ajneya aur Poorvottar Bharat, Ed Rita Rani Paliwal, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi


• Vagarth ka Vaibhav, by Ramesh Chandra Shah, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi


• The Quest of Ajneya, by Roger Hardham Hooker. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, New Delhi


• Alochak Ajneya ki Upasthiti, Krishna Dutt Paliwal, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi


• Kavi Ajneya ki Saundarya Chetna, by Chandraprabha Baluja, Sahitya Prakashan, Meerut


• Ajneya: Kavya Rachana ki Visheshtayein, by Krishna Sinha. Bihar Hindi Granth Akademi, Patna


• Ajneya (Monograph), by Ramesh Chandra Shah, Sahitya Akedemi, New Delhi


• Ajneya by Prabhakar Machve, Rajpal & Sons, Delhi


• Ajneya ki Itihas-drishti, by Shankar Sharan, Yash Prakashan, New Delhi


• Ajneya ka Sansar, Ed by Ashok Vajpeyi, Pooroday Prakashan, New Delhi


• Chhayavad ke Pariprekshya mein Ajneya ka Kavya, by Kamal Kumar, New Delhi


• Ajneya ki Kavita: Parampara aur Prayog, by Ramesh Rishikalp, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi


• Ajneya: Kuchh Rang Kuchh Raag, by Srilal Shukl, Prabhat Prakashan, New Delhi


• Ajneya Vol.1 to Vol.5, Anthologies Ed by Harish Trivedi/ KD Paliwal, Roopa & Co., New Delhi


• Apne Apne Ajneya, Vol.I & Vol.II, Ed by Om Thanvi, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi

References

• 
  Amaresh Datta (2006). The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature (Volume One (A To Devo), Volume 1. Sahitya Akademi. p. 103. ISBN 81-260-1803-8.
  

External links

• Agyeya at Gadya Kosh (Online Encyclopedia of Hindi Literature)


• Poems of Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan at Kavita Kosh


• अनहद कृति ई-पत्रिका में सच्चिदानंद हीरानंद वात्स्यायन 'अज्ञेय' का जीवन परिचय एवं कुछ रचनाएं 'Agyeya' in Anhadkriti