Poets

Nagarjun (Hindi:नागार्जुन, Baba Nagarjun, Vaidya Nath Mishra, Yatri) was a major Hindi and Maithili poet who has also penned a number of novels, short stories, literary biographies and travelogues, and was known as Janakavi- the People's Poet.

Early Life and Education

Born Vaidya Nath Mishra, in 1911, into a Maithil Brahmin family in a small village of Satlakha in Madhubani District of Bihar, India, which was his mother's village, though his family belonged to Tarauni village in Darbhanga district, Bihar. He later converted to Buddhism and got the name Nagarjun. His mother died when he was only three, and his father being a vagabond himself, couldn't support him so young Vaidya Nath thrived on the support of his relatives, and the scholarships he won on the account of him being an exceptional student. Soon he became proficient in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit languages, which he first learnt locally and later at Varanasi and Calcutta, where he was also semi-employed, while pursuing his studies. Meanwhile he married Aparajita Devi and the couple had six children.

Career

He started his literary career with Maithili poems by the pen-name of Yatri (यात्री) in early 1930s. By mid 1930s, he started writing poetry in Hindi. His first permanent job of a full time teacher, took him to Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), though he didn't stay there for long as his urge to delve deeper into Buddhist scriptures, took him to the Buddhist monastery at Kelaniya, Sri Lank..