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'' (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 ...

, 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 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 ...

. 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 yea ...

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 h ...

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 prem ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 capita ...

. 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 List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

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 ...

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 a ...

. 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 popula ...

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 ...

, 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