Sachchidananda Vatsyayan

Early life and education

Sachchidananda Vatsyayan was born on 7 March 1911 in a tent at Kasya, Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh. His father Hirananda Sahhstri was an archaeologist, who was also a scholar of Sanskrit. 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.

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.

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:

Novels:

Stories anthologies:

Play:

Travelogue:

Criticism:

Light Essyas:

Diary:

Memoirs:

Edited:

Introducing:

Conversations:

In English:

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

Translations:

Self-translated works:

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

Films on Ajneya:

Awards and honours

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.