Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" (21 February 1899 – 15 October 1961) was an Indian poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer who wrote in Hindi. He was also an artist, who drew many contemporary sketches.

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Suryakant Tripathi
Tripathi on a 1976 stamp of India
Born	(1899-02-21)21 February 1899 Midnapore, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died	15 October 1961(1961-10-15) (aged 64) Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Pen name	Nirala
Occupation	Writer poet essayist novelist
Nationality	Indian
Period	Chhayavaad
Notable works	Saroj Smriti, Raam Ki Shaktipuja
Spouse	Manohara Devi
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Tripathi was born on 21 February 1899 at Mahishadal in Midnapore in Bengal Presidency^[1][2] into a Kanyakubja Brahmin family.^[3] Nirala's father, Pandit Ramsahaya Tripathi, was a government servant and was a tyrannical person. His mother died when he was very young. Nirala was educated in the Bengali medium at Mahishadal Raj High School at Mahishadal, a princely state in Purba Medinipur.^[3][4] Subsequently, he shifted to Lucknow and thence to village Gadhakola of Unnao district, to which his father originally belonged.^[5] Growing up, he gained inspiration from personalities like Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, and Rabindranath Tagore.^[5]

After his marriage at the age of 20, Nirala learned Hindi at the insistence of his wife, Manohara Devi. Soon, he started writing poems in Hindi, instead of Bengali. After a bad childhood, Nirala had a few good years with his wife. But this phase was short-lived as his wife died when he was 22, and later his daughter (who was a widow) also expired. Nirala lost half of his family, including his wife and daughter, in the 1918 Spanish flu influenza outbreak.^[6][7]

Most of his life was somewhat in the bohemian tradition. He wrote strongly against social injustice and exploitation in society. Since he was more or less a rebel, both in form and content, acceptance did not come easily. What he got in plenty was ridicule and derision. All this may have played a role in making him a victim of schizophrenia in his later life and he was admitted to Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi.^[8]

Many of Nirala's poems were translated by David Rubin, and are available in the collections, A Season on the Earth: Selected Poems of Nirala (Columbia University Press, 1977), The Return of Sarasvati: Four Hindi Poets (Oxford University Press, 1993), and Of Love and War: A Chayavad Anthology (Oxford University Press, 2005). Nirala : Aatmhanta Astha was a critical analysis of his works written by Doodhnath Singh.^[9]

Today, a park, Nirala Uddyan, an auditorium, Nirala Prekshagrah, and a degree college, Mahapran Nirala Degree College, in the Unnao District are named after him.^[5]