Manishankar Ratnji Bhatt ( gu, મણિશંકર રત્નજી ભટૃ), popularly known as Kavi Kant ( gu, કવિ કાન્ત) 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- ...
poet, playwright and essayist. He is an innovator of ''Khandkavya'', a typical Gujarati poetic form and narration of one episode. His book ''
Purvalap
''Purvalap'' ( gu, પૂર્વાલાપ) is a posthumously published collection of poems by Kavi Kant, Manishankar Ratnji Bhatt alias Kavi Kant, in 1923. Kant has invented a new form of ''Khandkavya'' by blending the Greek language, Greek a ...
'' (1923) is a landmark in Gujarati poetry.
Life
Kavi Kant was born in ''Prashnora Brahman Family'' on 20 November 1867 in
Chavand, a village in
Amreli Prant of
Baroda state
Baroda State was a state in present-day Gujarat, ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Confederacy from its formation in 1721 until its accession to the newly formed Dominion of India in 1949. With the city of Baroda (Vadodara) as its c ...
, to Motibahen and Ratnaji Bhatt. His family's influence left him with a deep interest in both education and philosophy. He was a student of both Hindu and Biblical philosophy. He took his primary education at
Mangrol,
Morbi
Morbi or Morvi is a city in the Morbi district in the state of Gujarat, India. It is situated on the Kathiawar peninsula. , the city's population was determined to be 194,947. The city is on the Machhu River, from the sea and from Rajkot.
H ...
and
Rajkot
Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of ...
. He completed his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in 1888 from
Bombay University
The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai.
The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...
with
Logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
and
Moral philosophy
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
subjects. He served as a teacher at
Surat
Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...
in 1889. From 1890 to 1898, he served as Professor and then Vice principal at Kalabhavan,
Vadodara
Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...
.
He was on tour to
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
in 1923. While returning to
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
from
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...
in train, he died en route on 16 June 1923.
Conversion
In 1891 his first wife Narmada died. The death of his wife affected Kant deeply, and he could not find solace in his own religion. His search for answers about life and death led him to the philosophy of
Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg (, ; born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 March 1772) was a Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, ''Heaven and Hell'' (1758).
Swedenborg had ...
. His writings provided some relief for his grief and he converted to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
in 1898. His family and friends opposed his decision and due to public and political opposition, he had to give up his position as minister of education in the
Bhavnagar State
Bhavnagar State was a princely state with 13 Gun Salutes during the British Raj. It was part of Kathiawar Agency in Saurashtra.
The State of Bhavnagar covered an area of 2,961 sq. miles and had a population of 618,429 in 1941.
Its ruler ...
. The community shunned both him and his family. Kant took the decision to leave the community and his family, for the sake of his wife and children. Realizing the repercussions of Kant's decision, the King of Bhavnagar along with some of his friends formed an "intervention" of sorts to ask him to change his mind. He realized that he could not stand to see his family suffer because of this decision. He missed them dearly and did not want to be apart from them.
Literary work
He wrote one poetry book called ''Purvalap'' (1923) that was released on the day he died. He invented a form of poetry called "Khand-Kavya", one type of
Narrative poetry
Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be s ...
, in Gujarati.
He also wrote the plays ''Salimshah Athva Ashrumati'', ''Roman-Swarajya'', ''Dukhi Sansar'' and ''Guru Govindsinh'' between 1908 and 1914.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavi Kant
Gujarati-language writers
Indian male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights
Gujarati-language poets
Indian male poets
Dramatists and playwrights from Gujarat
People from Amreli district
1867 births
1923 deaths
19th-century Indian essayists
20th-century Indian essayists
Indian male essayists
20th-century Indian poets
19th-century Indian poets
19th-century Indian male writers
Poets from Gujarat
20th-century Indian male writers