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Ashok Chakradhar

Hindi Poet

Ashok Chakradhar is a Hindi poet, writer and a media personality. He has been a professor and head of the department of Hindi at Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University). After serving for 29 years, he took voluntary retirement to focus on working towards the propagation and development of the Hindi (Hindustani) language. In 2007 he became the Hindi coordinator at the Institute of Life Long Learning (ILLL) at the University of Delhi and in 2009 was appointed as the Vice Chairman of Hindi Academy, Government of Delhi and as the Vice Chairman of the Kendriya Hindi Shikshan Mandal, Ministry of HRD, Government of India. He is a celebrated poet, widely known for his unique style of poetry.

Chakradhar was born in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh, in India. His ancestors hailed from a village called Sunahara in Bulandshahar district in Uttar Pradesh. His father Radhey Shyam 'Pragalbh' was a well-known Hindi poet, and his mother Kusum 'Pragalbh' is from Iglas, Uttar Pradesh, in India. Chakradhar was initially named Ashok Sharma. Since 1972, he has been known as Ashok Chakradhar. Chakradhar's father died in 1999, and his father in law Kaka Hathrasi died in 1995. Chakradhar is an alumnus of SMJEC Inter College, Khurja Bagla College, Hathras, and Kishori Raman College, Mathura. He later attended the Department of Hindi at the University of Delhi. He has a younger brother, Arvind Babbal, who is a Film Director in Teleserials.

Chakradhar is married to Dr. Bageshri Chakradhar, and the couple have two children. Their son Anurag Chakradhar lives in Australia, and his daughter Sneha Chakradhar is a Bharatnatyam Dancer. He completed his MA, M Lit, PhD (Hindi) and received a post-doctoral fellowship from the University Grants Commission for research on ‘Navsaakshar Sahitya ke Aayam’.

Data and Picture Courtsey - Wikipedia