Haji Mohammed Allarakha Shivji (13 December 1878 – 21 January 1921), also spelled Hajji Mohammad Alarakhiya, was a

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

literary Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

journalist and author.

Biography

Haji Mohammed Allarakha Shivji was born on 13 December 1878 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

to a

Khoja The Khojas ( sd}; gu, ખોજા, hi, ख़ोजा) are a mainly Nizari Isma'ili Shia community of people originating in Gujarat, India. Derived from the Persian Khwaja, a term of honor, the word Khoja is used to refer to Lohana Rajput ...

Ismaili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

businessman. He was a native of Kutch. He studied Gujarati initially at home, and later studied up to the sixth grade at Fort Highschool in Bombay. After 1895, he studied

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

, English and

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

. To bring magazine like ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'' in Gujarati, he founded ''Visami Sadi'' (The Twentieth Century), a pictorial periodical in 1914 and published it from 1916 to 1920. He sold three family mansions and invested around Rs 15 million for the magazine. It became popular but he never recovered any money from it. He was a connoisseur of art. He died in an accident in Bombay on 21 January 1921.

Works

Allarakha is best known for his periodical ''Visami Sadi''. He wrote and translated several works under pen name, Salim. ''Mogal Rang Mahel'' and ''Shish Mahel'' are his stories. ''Meharunnisa athwa Shahenshah Jahangir ane Noorjahan no Prem'' (1904) is his play with

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

shayari Urdu poetry ( ur, ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. According to Naseer Turabi there are five major poets of Urdu which are Mir Taqi Mir (d.1810), Mirza Ghalib ...

s. ''Rashida'' (1908) is his novel. Suchet Singh established Oriental Film Manufacturing Company of

with help of Allarakha in 1919.

References

External links

Restored and digital archive of ''Visami Sadi''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shivji, Haji Mohammed Allarakha 1878 births 1921 deaths Indian Ismailis Gujarati-language writers 20th-century Indian journalists Writers from Mumbai Indian editors Indian publishers (people) 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Journalists from Maharashtra People from Kutch district