Creative Skill and Authored Contribution
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Authored Contribution
Deo Shankar Navin is known to be creatively engaged from his early school life. And his literary compositions began to publish in various prestigious journals since 1982. However, the first collection of his literary pieces was published in 1990. Since then, he has published 44 books to his credit —13 written (4 Maithili, 9 Hindi), 24 compiled (4 Maithili, 20 Hindi), and 7 translated texts. He has authored books in both the languages (8 in Maithili & 36 in Hindi) cutting across various genres such as short stories, poetry and criticism. He has been appreciated widely among huge circles of readers for his creative skill and critical engagements.
He was honored for his poetry as the Best Young Poet by The Hindi
Academy in 1991, and Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Lucknow honored him with its Sauhard Samman of 2013 for his writings in Hindi.
Creative Skill
From the childhood he was habitual of rhyming and coining new and interesting terms i.e. Tukbandi. Due to this often he was beaten by his father. He loved singing songs, participating in drama, making flowers from paper clippings, sketch designing from childhood. But due to hardship and rural background the training in those disciplines was not possible. Coming to the Eighth-Ninth Class he started to write parodies of filmy songs. This habit gradually brought him towards writing. His first composition appeared in Saharsa College Saharsa Magazine in 1981 and next in 1983 in the journal, Mithila Mihir.
The serious readers of Hindi and Maithili languages as well as Indian literature have acknowledged his major contribution through his work of compilation, editing, analysis and criticism of the huge writings of the Prolific Writer-Thinker Rajkamal Chaudhary. Various Compositions of Deo shankar Navin are translated and published in Bangla, Telugu, Punjabi, English, Malayalam and Assamese.
Deo Shankar Navin was quite early identified as an innovative, committed and pioneering author. Although his first work was published in Hindi, but he wrote continuously in Maithili during initial five-six years. Very soon, he began to write frequently in both the languages Maithili and Hindi. He wrote in almost all the major genres-- poetry, fiction, short stories, Ghazals and criticism in both the languages. The learned readers marked him as distinct creator which was prominently reflected through his writings. His literature has not just exposed the various contradictions of life, but has also provided the sharp critique of the anomalies of our society and travesties of collective human existence. He uses the technique of referential legendary metaphors to narrate the prevailing conflict and crisis of everyday life. His legendary metaphors do not only symbolize his deep understanding of the societal changes but also preserve the various identities and its histories through the metaphorical languages.
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He is much more pertinent for the social concern of literature. He believes that the utmost relevance and utility of literature is to make the society humanitarian and make the human being social. His concern for the safety of human-value appears in his each and every creation. He is much more admired as significant and strong Maithili short story writer in his generation. Though, Deo Shankar Navin has been primarily known as poet but he is also known for his prodigious story writing skill and discerning insights of criticism especially. Since 1990, he began to attract the attention of readers. He affirms that a literary criticism without adopting the sociological tools remains incomplete analysis of the literature.
A major change in thinking concerns of Indian literature arose from the global understanding and innovation of new discourses of post-emergency period, which was effortlessly identified by Deo Shankar Navin and he seriously started to think about anti-narratives, post-colonialism, women-discourse, subaltern-question, secularism, migration of workers and intellectual class, the collapse of the education system, unemployment, the collapse of the human relation-values and moral-values, inevitable topics like pseudo God-fearing. His creative and critical vision is centered on these points and due to his vision he is being counted among new thinkers of Indian literature. Where his other contemporaries were keeping themselves relevant knocking out the old rut, he remained insistent breaking the stereotypical attitudes of our society in terms of their innovative new method to communicate the change to new things in society. In his opinion, literature writing is not a tool of individual progress rather it should be treated as the record of changing realities of society. He is particularly known to have lived his life as per his set ideals. He always considered his writings in term of social concern as the basic goal. He clearly claims that a good literature is the greatest tool of social reform.
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The Indian readership would have certainly remained deprived from the writings and sharp social concern of Rajkamal Chaudhary, the great Indian writer of Hindi and Maithili of post-independence India, if Deo Shankar Navin would not have collected, compiled and published his four thousand pages strewn literature with his thirty-three years tireless research. He not only compiled and published his compositions, but also wrote the critical note on his writings.
​Deo Shankar Navin's critical work-- Rajkamal Chaudhary : Jeevan Evam Srijan has inspired the avid readers to take interest in Rajkamal Chaudhary's work along with comparative vision in other Contemporary Indian literatures. This masterpiece of literary contribution inclines the Indian readership to achieve the vision to understand the values of great Indian writer Rajkamal Chaudhary's prolific writings as well as the trends of post-independence Indian literature.
Due to his continued and seamless writings in both the Indian languages--Hindi and Maithili, and devotion in his creativity as well as motivation in academic enterprise, the readers always look forward to the forthcoming contribution of Deo Shankar Navin.
He also believes that the better literature gives the inner grandeur to the citizen of his time with great fondness. Ultimately, the literature is the preacher which consistently inspire the society to remain humanitarian and to human being to remain social through its elegant values. Through its invisible method, the literature introduces the amendment and sophistication in civil-psyche, makes them the owner of deliberate brain with the effect of purgation by sublime expression. He thinks that only deliberate brain can constitute and maintain the systematic civil society, and plan to organize society well for democracy. Hence, Deo Shankar Navin understands that his extreme and ultimate duty is to write good literature, reading good literature, to convey the better message to the society with the evaluation of good literature. He believes that if each and every citizen of the society takes the reading of good literature, all evils of the society can be abolished.
Due to this sacred perception regarding utility of the literature Deo Shankar Navin became the inspiration for the coming generation and creators of elder generation began to recognise him as significant voice. In his perception, the literature never was the instrument of entertainment and luxury probably. Across the time, the purpose of literature has been to educate the person making ethical and conscientious citizens in favor of the existence of human values, to goad the civilians towards constitution of better society, and to give the message to the machinery of government to protect the value and policy in favor of citizen's life when ever needed. Going through the good literature every reader finds himself changed than before. Probably, the inclusion of literature in India's elementary education system as a compulsory subject is the result of the inclusion of the same policy. He believes that every creator comes into this area with voluntary inspiration, his social, moral and humanitarian responsibilities brought him on this path; therefore a creator should be engaged in his duties as a saint, no way he/she should fall into a dilemma looking at others facilities. Only through the creation of the better literature, a creator can be moral and meaningful in his own eyes. Widely known and acclaimed author, Deo Shankar Navin has carved his image as glorious and hardworking editor, as well as a committed teacher in order of his service. Since 1985, he worked in four institutions, and got enormous respect for his diligence and harmony, and expression.
