Chakbast's ancestors hailed from Kashmir and had settled in Delhi, U.P., and Bihar in 15th century A.D.His father, Udit Narain Chakbast, was born at Lucknow in, probably, 1843. Brij Narain was born atFaizabad in 1882. After the death of his father in 1887 the family shifted to Lucknow. It was here that the boy-poet received his education which included, apart from a thorough grounding in Urdu and Persian, an LL.B. degree also. Chakbast married in 1905, but lost his wife and first child in 1906. He married again in 1907, and settled down as a practising lawyer at Lucknow. He was also actively involved in social and political affairs, and was an ardent champion of the Home Rule. He lived for only 44 years and died of a paralytic stroke in 1926.
Chakbast is primarily a poet of the nazm. He began his poetic career with a nazm in 1894, and ended, in 1925, with a nazm again. His famous poems are: Khak-e-Hind, Ramayan 1w Ek Scene, Nala-e-Dard, and Nala-e-Yaas. He also wrote a masnavi entitled: Gulzar-e-Naseem, and a play named: Kamla. He wrote no more than 50 ghazals, but most of them are remarkable for the beauty of their thought and the lucidity and urbanity of his style. Much of his verse is didactic, patriotic and aphoristic. He uses impressive, Persianised diction in the manner of Ghalib and Aatish, by whose poetry he was deeply influenced. Chakbast is among the few early Urdu poets who had the benefit of a university degree. He is also dishnctive for not having used his 'takha11us", his poetic name, in the conclusions of his tha.a1 - which perhaps shows the humility and modesty of his temperament.