Bhojpur & Purvanchal · Middle & Lower Gangetic Plain

People

Name	Years	Field	Known for
Kabir	c. 1440–1518	Poet and mystic	A weaver of Banaras whose verse rejected both Brahminical ritual and formal Islam, and who is claimed by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike — his verses are in the Guru Granth Sahib. He died at Maghar, deliberately.
Ravidas	Fifteenth century	Poet and saint	A Chamar leatherworker of Banaras whose verse became foundational for Dalit religious assertion; his birthplace at Seer Govardhanpur is a major pilgrimage centre, particularly for Punjabi Ravidassias.
Bhikhari Thakur	1887–1971	Playwright and performer	A barber from Saran who wrote and performed Bidesiya and a dozen other plays about migration, dowry and caste, in Bhojpuri, for village audiences. Called the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri, and the only major Indian dramatist of his century to come from the class he wrote about.
Mahendar Misir	1886–1946	Poet and composer	Created the Purvi song form, and was jailed for counterfeiting currency — a story the region tells with some relish and a good deal of sympathy.
Bharatendu Harishchandra	1850–1885	Writer	From Varanasi; regarded as the founder of modern Hindi literature and of Hindi theatre and journalism, all within a life of thirty-four years.
Munshi Premchand	1880–1936	Writer	Born at Lamhi outside Varanasi; wrote in Urdu and then Hindi, and made the peasant, the moneylender and the village the subject of Indian fiction. Godaan and his short stories remain the standard.
Ustad Bismillah Khan	1916–2006	Musician	Born at Dumraon in Buxar and based at Varanasi; took the shehnai from temple and wedding processions to the concert platform, played at the Red Fort on the first Independence Day, and refused to leave Banaras.
Girija Devi	1929–2017	Singer	Of the Banaras gharana; carried thumri, kajri, chaiti and tappa through a period when the light-classical forms were losing their patronage, and taught most of the generation that sings them now.
Pandit Ravi Shankar	1920–2012	Musician	Born at Varanasi; trained at Maihar under Allauddin Khan, and became the musician through whom most of the world first heard Indian classical music.
Veer Kunwar Singh	1777–1858	Rebel leader	Zamindar of Jagdishpur, who took up the 1857 revolt in his eighties, fought a campaign across three provinces, and died days after his last victory.
Rajendra Prasad	1884–1963	Politics	Born at Ziradei in Siwan; president of the Constituent Assembly and the first President of India, and Gandhi's principal organiser during the 1917 Champaran satyagraha.
Jayaprakash Narayan	1902–1979	Politics	From Sitab Diara on the Ghaghara; socialist, then Sarvodaya worker, then the figure around whom the movement against the Emergency organised in 1974–75.
Rahul Sankrityayan	1893–1963	Scholar and traveller	From Azamgarh; travelled to Tibet four times and brought back manuscripts of Sanskrit Buddhist texts lost in India, and wrote across a dozen fields in Hindi.
Kaifi Azmi	1919–2002	Poet	From Azamgarh; Urdu poet of the Progressive Writers' movement, film lyricist, and later the rebuilder of his own village as a development project.

People from Bhojpur & Purvanchal who shaped its history, arts, science, sport and public life. (14)