Bholabhai Patel () was an Indian Gujarati author. He taught numerous languages at Gujarat University and did comparative studies of literature in different languages. He translated extensively and wrote essays and travelogues. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008.

Life

Patel was born on 7 August 1934, in Soja village near Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He completed S.S.C. in 1952. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Sanskrit, Hindi and Indian culture from Banaras Hindu University in 1957. He also studied at the Gujarat University, and completed his master's degree in Hindi in 1960, a Bachelors in English in 1968, a Masters in English and Science of Language in 1970. From 1974, he started working on his PhD thesis on

Sachchidananda Vatsyayan Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan (7 March 1911 – 4 April 1987), popularly known by his pen name Agyeya (also transliterated Ajneya, meaning 'the unknowable'), was an Indian writer, poet, novelist, literary critic, journalist, translator a ...

'Agyeya', a modernist Hindi writer, and completed it in 1977. The thesis was later published as ''Agyeya: Ek Adhyayan'' in Hindi. During his studies in Gujarathi University, Gujarathi writer Umashankar Joshi was his Gujarati lecturer. Joshi influenced literary taste and critical discrimination. He also completed a diploma in German in 1971 and linguistics in 1974. Patel obtained a fellowship from the Visva-Bharati University where he did a comparative study of Indian literature. Patel was married and had three children. He began his teaching career working at a primary school in

Modasa Modasa is a town and a municipality in Aravalli district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Modasa was named after the Bhil chieftain Malaji Bhil, who ruled in Modasa during 1466. Modasa became headquarters of new Aravalli district, carved o ...

. He taught at Saradar Vallabhbhai Arts College in Ahmedabad from 1960 to 1969. Later he taught and headed the Hindi Department of the School of Languages at Gujarat University from 1969 until his retirement in 1994. Patel served as a fellow of comparative literature at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan in 1983-84 and at the Institute of Humanities, Vidya Bhavan. He was also the trustee of the institute which published '' Gujarati Vishwakosh'', the Gujarati encyclopaedia. He served as the president of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad from 2011 until his death in 2012. He edited ''Parab'', a monthly of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad for three decades starting 1974. He died on 20 May 2012 at

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

following a heart attack.

Works

Patel had published more than 52 books. He was a polyglot who spoke Gujarati, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, German, French, Marathi, Puria and Sanskrit fluently. He translated many books from these languages to Gujarati and vice versa. He wrote literary travelogues about his travels across Europe and the US. Patel was an expert on the works of the ancient poet

Kalidas Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...

and the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Non-fiction

''Vidisha'' (1980) is collection of his eleven travel essays. ''Purvottar'' (1971) is travelogue of his travel in Northeast India, West Bengal and Odisha. ''Kanchanjangha'' (1985) is collection of travel essays. His other two collections are ''Bole Zina Mor'' (1992) and ''Shalbhanjika'' (1992). His other travelogues are ''Radhe Tara Dungariya Par'' (1987), ''Devoni Ghati'' (1989), ''Devatma Himalaya'' (1990) and ''Europe-Anubhav'' (2004). His works of criticism are ''Adhuna'' (1973), ''Bharatiya Tunkivarta'' (1987), ''Purvapar'' (1976), ''Kalpurush'' (1979), ''Adhunikata ane Gujarati Kavita'' (1987), ''Sahityik Paramparano Vistar'' (1996), ''Aav Gira Gujarati'' (2003).

Edited and translated works

He has edited some works; ''Asamiya Gujarati Kavita'' (1981), ''Gujarati Sahityano Athmo Dayko'' (1982), ''Gujarati Sahityano Navmo Dayko'' (with Chandrakant Topiwala, 1991) and ''Jeevannu Kavya'' (1987), selected works of Kaka Kalelkar. His Ph.D. thesis, ''Agney: Ek Adhyayan'' was published by Gujarat University in 1983. As he was a polyglot, he translated large number of works. A large number of these translations were from Bengali to his native Gujarati, such as

Sukumar Sen Sukumar Sen may refer to: *Sukumar Sen (civil servant) Sukumar Sen (2 January 1898 – 13 May 1963) was an Indian civil servant who was the first Chief Election Commissioner of India, serving from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958. Under his le ...

's history of Bengali literature, ''Bangali Sahitya Itihasni Rooprekha'' in 1982. Other translations from Bengali include works by Rabindranath Tagore, such as ''Char Adhyay'' (1988), Jibanananda Das's poetry collection ''Vanlata Sen'' (1976),

Sunil Gangopadhyay Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, historian and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Kolkata. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his ma ...

's novel ''Swargani Niche Manushya'' (1977), Buddhadeb Bosu's play ''Tapaswi ane Tarangini'' (1982). He also translated Vinayak Athwale's ''Vishnu Digambar'' (1967), Gopal Singh's ''Guru Nanak'' (1969), Maheswar Neog's ''Shankardev'' (1970), He translated Sumitranandan Pant's poetry collection in Gujarati as ''Chidambara'' (1969) with Raghuveer Chaudhari. He translated Umashankar Joshi's poetry books ''Prachina'' (1968) and ''Nishith'' (1968) in Hindi. Rabindranath Tagore's ''Geet Panchshati'' (1978) was translated in Gujarati by him,

Nagindas Parekh Nagindas Narandas Parekh (8 August 1903 – 19 January 1993) was a Gujarati language critic, editor and translator from India. He is also known by his pen name, Granthkeet (literally, bookworm). Life Nagindas Parekh was born on 8 August 1903 in ...

and others. He also translated

Prabhudutt Brahmachari Sant Prabhuduttji Brahmachari was an Indian from Vrindavan(Bansivat) and who ran a Sanskrit school in Basant gaon, New Delhi. He founded his ashram at Jhusi to organize Kumbh Mela. He became close to Golwalker in nearly 1950 and then Rajendra ...

's ''Chaitanya Mahaprabhu'' (1986) with Nagindas Parekh. He translated Hindi writer

Shrikant Verma Shrikant Verma (18 September 1931 – 25 May 1986) was an Indian poet and a Member of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh as an INC candidate from 1976 to 1982 and 1982 to 1986. Verma died of cancer in 1986 in New York. Verma was married to Veena ...

's ''Bijana Pag'' (1990) with Bindu Bhatt. He translated

R. M. Lala Russi M. Lala (22 August 1928 – 19 October 2012) was an Indian author, editor, and publisher known for his chronicles of the Tata family, Tatas. When he was 19, he entered the profession of book publishing in 1951. From 1959 to 1963, he establi ...

's ''The Creation of Wealth'' from English in Gujarati as ''Sampattinu Sarjan'' (1984). ''Kamroopa'' is translation of selected Assamese poetry. He also translated

Syed Abdul Malik Syed Abdul Malik (1919–2000) was an Indian writer of Assamese literature, from the village of Nahoroni in Golaghat. He was the president of Asam Sahitya Sabha in 1977 held at Abhayapuri. Malik received many prizes, including Padmashri, Padma ...

's novel as ''Soorajmukhina Swapna'' and Vasudev Sharan Agrawal's studies as ''Harshacharit: Ek Sanskritik Adhyayan''. He translated Agyeya's Hindi work '' Angan Ke Par Dwar'' into Gujarati as ''Anganani Par Dwar'' (2002).

Recognition

Patel was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in 2008. He also won the KK Birla Foundation fellowship. He received the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak in 1995, the highest award in Gujarati literature. He was the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati in 1992 for ''Devoni Ghati''. Bholabhai Patel Chowk, a crossroad near Gujarat University, is named after him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Bholabhai 1934 births 2012 deaths Writers from Gujarat Gujarati-language writers Gujarat University faculty Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education People from Gandhinagar district Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Gujarati Indian literary critics 20th-century Indian translators 20th-century Indian essayists Indian travel writers Banaras Hindu University alumni Recipients of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Scholars from Gujarat Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation