64 Greatest and Famous Poets of India

Kabir

Kabir Das was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint, whose writings influenced Hinduism’s Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikhism’s...

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Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'

Ramdhari Singh “Dinkar” (23 September 1908 – 24 April 1974), was an Indian Hindi poet, essayist, patriot and academic, who is considered...

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Maithili Sharan Gupt (3 August 1886 – 12 December 1964) was one of the most important modern Hindi poets. He is considered one among the pioneers...

3. Maithili Sharan Gupt

4. Sumitranandan Pant

Sumitranandan Pant (20 May 1900 – 28 December 1977) was an Indian poet. He was one of the most celebrated 20th century poets of the Hindi language...

Suryakant Tripathi (21 February 1896 – 15 October 1961), known by his pen name Nirala, was an Indian poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer. He...

5. Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'

Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana

Khanzada Mirza Khan Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan (17 December 1556 – 1 October 1627), popularly known as simply Rahim, was a poet who lived in India...

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Mahadevi Varma

Mahadevi Varma (26 March 1907 – 11 September 1987) was a Hindi poet, freedom fighter and educationist from India. She was a major poet of the “Chhayavaad”,...

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Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (born Robindronath Thakur, 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941; sobriquet Gurudev, Kobiguru, Biswakobi) was a Bengali poet, writer, composer,...

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9. Amir Khusrau

Abu’l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253–1325), better known as Amīr Khusrau Dehlavī, was a Sufi singer, poet and scholar from India. He was...

Gulzar 'Sampooran Singh Kalra'

Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian lyricist, poet, author, screenwriter, and film director. He...

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Ghalib (Urdu: غاؔلِب‎), born Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan (Urdu: مِرزا اسَدُاللہ بیگ خان), (27 December 1797 – 15 February...

11. Mirza Ghalib

A. K. Ramanujan

Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan (16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993) was an Indian poet and scholar of Indian literature who wrote in both English and Kannada....

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Agha Shahid Ali

Agha Shahid Ali (4 February 1949 – 8 December 2001) was a Kashmiri-American poet. His collections include A Walk Through the Yellow Pages, The Half-Inch...

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14. Amrita Pritam

Amrita Pritam ( 31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. She is considered the...

15. Arun Kolatkar

Arun Balkrishna Kolatkar (1 November 1932 – 25 September 2004) was an Indian poet who wrote in both Marathi and English. His poems found humour in...

16. Arundhathi Subramaniam

Arundhathi Subramaniam is an Indian poet, writer, critic, curator, translator, Journalist, writing in English. Arundhathi Subramaniam’s volume...

17. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (born 1947) is an Indian poet, anthologist, literary critic and translator. Mehrotra was nominated for the post of Professor...

Bharatendu Harishchandra (9 September 1850 – 6 January 1885) is known as the father of Hindi literature as well as Hindi theatre. He is considered...

18. Bharatendu Harishchandra

19. Dharamvir Bharati

Dharamvir Bharati (25 December 1926 – 4 September 1997) was a renowned Hindi poet, author, playwright and a social thinker of India. He was the chief...

Dushyant Kumar (1 September 1933 – 30 December 1975) was an Indian poet of modern Hindi literature. He is famous for writing Hindi Ghazals, and is...

20. Dushyant Kumar

21. Eunice de Souza

Eunice de Souza (1940–2017) was an Indian English language poet, literary critic and novelist. Among her notable books of poetry are Women in Dutch...

22

Geet Chaturvedi

Geet Chaturvedi (born 27 November 1977, in Mumbai, Maharashtra) is a Hindi poet, short story author and novelist. Often regarded as an avant-garde writer,...

23. Gieve Patel

Gieve Patel (born 18 August 1940) is an Indian poet, playwright, painter, as well as a practising physician. He belongs to a group of writers who have...

24

Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Harivansh Rai Bachchan (27 November 1907 – 18 January 2003) was an Indian poet of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early...

Jaishankar Prasad

Jaishankar Prasad (30 January 1889 – 15 November 1937) was a prominent figure in modern Hindi literature as well as Hindi theatre. Prasad was his...

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26. Jayanta Mahapatra

Jayanta Mahapatra (born 22 October 1928) is an Indian English poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. He...

27

Jeet Thayil

Jeet Thayil (born 13 October 1959) is an Indian poet, novelist, librettist and musician. He is best known as a poet and is the author of four collections:...

Jibanananda Das (17 February 1899 – 22 October 1954) was an Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist in the Bengali language. Popularly called “Rupashi...

28. Jibanananda Das

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Kalidasa

Kālidāsa ( 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author and is often considered ancient India’s greatest playwright and dramatist....

30. Kamala Surayya

Kamala Surayya (born Kamala; 31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009), popularly known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty and married name Kamala Das, was...

Kazi Nazrul Islam, (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengali poet, writer, musician and the national poet of Bangladesh. Popularly known as Nazrul,...

31. Kazi Nazrul Islam

Keki N. Daruwalla (born 1937) is an Indian poet and short story writer in English. He is also a former Indian Police Service officer. He was awarded...

32. Keki N. Daruwalla

33

Kumar Vishwas

Kumar Vishwas (born Vishwas Kumar Sharma; 10 February 1970) is an Indian Hindi poet, politician and a lecturer. He was a member of the Aam Aadmi Party...

Makhanlal Chaturvedi

Pandit Makhanlal Chaturvedi (4 April 1889 – 30 January 1968), also called Pandit ji, was an Indian poet, writer, essayist, playwright and a journalist...

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Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy (born 1984) is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.Meena published two...

35. Meena Kandasamy

Michael Madhusudan Dutt, or Michael Madhusudan Dutta ( 25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet, writer and dramatist. He was a pioneer...

36. Michael Madhusudan Dutt

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Mirabai

Meera, also known as Mirabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Lord Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the...

Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and art critic. He was a foundational figure...

38. Nissim Ezekiel

R. Parthasarathy also known as Rajagopal Parthasarathy (born 1934) is an Indian poet, translator, critic, and editor. His works include Poetry from...

39. R. Parthasarathy

Ranjit Hoskote (born 29 March 1969) is an Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator. He was honoured with Sahitya Akademi Award...

40. Ranjit Hoskote

41. Rukmini Bhaya Nair

Rukmini Bhaya Nair is a linguist, poet, writer and critic from India. She won the First Prize for her poem kali in the “All India Poetry Competition”...

42

Sahir Ludhianvi

Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known by his takhallus (pen name) Sahir Ludhianvi, was an Indian poet and film song lyricist...

43

Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu (née Chattopadhyay; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet. A proponent of civil rights, women’s...

Shiv Kumar Batalvi (8 Oct 1937- May 1973) was an Indian poet, writer and playwright of the Punjabi language. He was most known for his romantic poetry,...

44. Shiv Kumar Batalvi

Sri Aurobindo (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, guru, poet, and nationalist. He joined the Indian movement for independence...

45. Sri Aurobindo

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (16 August 1904 – 15 February 1948) was an Indian poet. One of her most popular poems is “Jhansi ki Rani” (about...

46. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan

Surdas was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singer, who was known for his lyrics written in praise of Krishna. They are usually written...

47. Surdas

Tulsidas (1497–1623), also known as Goswami Tulsidas, was a Ramanandi Vaishnava saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote...

48. Tulsidas

Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has received several awards such...

49. Vikram Seth

Mir Muhammad Taqi Mir (February 1723 – 20 September 1810), also known as Mir Taqi Mir or Meer Taqi Meer, was an Urdu poet of the 18th century Mughal...

50. Mir Taqi Mir

Pash (9 September 1950 – 23 March 1988) was the pen name of Avtar Singh Sandhu, one of the major poets of the Naxalite movement in the Punjabi literature...

51. Paash

Sarala Das

Sarala Dasa (Odia:ସାରଳା ଦାସ) was a 15th-century Poet and scholar of Odia literature. Best known for three Odia books — Mahabharata,...

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Balaram Das

Balarama Dasa ( c. 1474-1522) was an Odia poet and litterateur. He was one of the 5 great poets in Odia literature, the Panchasakha during the Bhakti...

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Atibadi Jagannatha Dasa  was an Odia poet and litterateur. He was one of the 5 great poets in Odia literature, the Panchasakha. He wrote the Odia Bhagabata....

54. Jagannath Das

Achyutananda Das

Achyutananda Das or Mahapurusha Achyutananda was a 16th-century poet seer and Vaishnava saint from Odisha, India. He was considered to have the power...

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Ananta Das

Sisu Ananta Dasa ( born c. 1475) was an Odia poet , litterateur and mystic. He was one of the five great poets in Odia literature, the Panchasakha...

57. Jasobanta Das

Jasobanta Dasa (also spelled as Jasobanta Das or Yasovanta Das; Odia: ଯଶୋବନ୍ତ ଦାସ; born c. 1487) was an Odia poet , litterateur...

Jayadeva ( born c. 1170 CE), also known as Jaidev, was a Sanskrit poet during the 12th century. He is most known for his epic poem Gita Govinda which...

58. Jayadeva

Bihari Lal Chaube or Bihārī (1595–1663) was a Hindi poet, who is famous for writing the Satasaī (Seven Hundred Verses) in Brajbhasha, a collection...

59. Bihari

Syed Ibrahim Khan (1548-1628) was a poet of Pashtun origins, who became a devotee of Lord Krishna. He is known to have lived in Amroha near Delhi, India....

60. RasKhan

Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan (7 March 1911 – 4 April 1987), popularly known by his nom de plume Agyeya (also transliterated Ajneya, meaning...

61. Agyeya

Purandara Dasa

Purandara Dāsa (c. 1484 – c. 1565) was an Indian philosopher, a Haridasa, a renowned composer of Carnatic music, a great devotee of Lord Krishna,...

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Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri or Syed Abdullah Shah Gilani ( 1680–1757), known as Bulleh Shah was a Punjabi philosopher and Sufi poet during 17th-century...

63. Bulleh Shah

64. Thiruvalluvar

Thiruvalluvar, commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of Tirukkuṟaḷ, a collection...