Harivanshrai Bachchan, 96; Poet Translated Shakespeare Into Hindi

Harivanshrai Bachchan, 96, professor and poet of India who translated the works of Shakespeare into Hindi, died Saturday at the Bombay home of his son, film actor Amitabh Bachchan. The elder Bachchan had suffered from respiratory problems.

In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Bachchan was best-known for “Madhushala,” one of 30 collections of poems, and for his four-volume autobiography, regarded by many as a literary masterpiece. Bachchan taught at a university in northern India in the 1940s before going to Britain to complete his doctoral research at Cambridge University. After his return to India, he worked in the Foreign Ministry.

He translated Shakespeare’s works and the poetry of W.B. Yeats into Hindi. Because of his contributions to Hindi literature, Bachchan was nominated to India’s parliament in 1966.