Swami Anand (8 September 1887 – 25 January 1976) was a monk, a Gandhian activist and a Gujarati writer from India. He was the manager of Gandhi's publications such as ''Navajivan'' and '' Young India'' and inspired Gandhi to write his autobiography, ''

The Story of My Experiments with Truth ''The Story of My Experiments with Truth'' (, , ) is the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, covering his life from early childhood through to 1921. It was written in weekly installments and published in his journal ''Navjivan'' from 1925 to 1929 ...

''. He wrote sketches, memoir, biographies, philosophy, travelogues and translated some works.

Biography

Early life

Swami Anand was born Himmatlal on 8 September 1887 at Shiyani village near Wadhwan to Ramchandra Dave (Dwivedi) and Parvati in Audichya Brahmin family. His father was a teacher. He was among seven siblings. He was brought up and educated in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. At the age of ten, he left home in opposition to marriage and due to an offer by a monk to show him God. He wandered for three years with several different monks. He took a vow of renunciation while still in his teens, took on the name Swami Anand and became a monk with the Ramakrishna Mission. He also lived at the Advaita Ashram where he studied. Anand's entry into the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

was through his association with the revolutionaries of Bengal in 1905. Later, he worked in the '' Kesari'', the Marathi newspaper founded by

Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokamānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...

, in 1907. He was also involved in independence activities in rural regions. He also edited the Gujarati edition of Marathi daily ''Rashtramat'' during the same period. When it was closed down, he travelled the Himalayas in 1909. In 1912, he taught at the Hill Boys School in Almoda which was founded by

Annie Besant Annie Besant (; Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, Theosophy (Blavatskian), theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an arden ...

Gandhi's associate

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

first met Anand in Bombay on 10 January 1915, the day after he had returned from South Africa. Gandhi launched his weekly, the '' Navjeevan'' from

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled 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 ...

four years later. Its inaugural issue came out in September 1919 and soon the workload increased. It was at this juncture that Gandhi sent for Anand to become the manager of the publication. Swami Anand took over its management in late 1919. He proved to be a good editor and manager and when the '' Young India'' was launched, he moved the publication to larger premises and with printing equipment donated by Mohammed Ali Jouhar, its publication began. In 18 March 1922, he was jailed for one and a half years as a publisher for an article published in ''Young India''. Gandhi's autobiography was serialised in the ''Navjeevan'' from 1925 to 1928. It was written by Gandhi at Swami Anand's insistence and an English translation of these chapters appeared in installments in the ''Young India'' as well. Later, '' The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi'' was published based on the talks Gandhi gave at the Satyagraha Ashram in Ahmedabad in 1926. Swami Anand played a role in inspiring Gandhi to write this work as well. He was Vallabhai Patel's secretary during the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928. In 1930, he was again jailed for three years for participating in Salt Satyagraha at Vile Parle in Bombay. When he was released in 1933, he focused on the upliftment of the tribals and the underprivileged. He also founded the

Ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Kausani and Kosbad. He had also participated in relief work of the 1934 earthquake in north India and in the 1942 Quit India movement. Following Partition in 1947, he worked amongst the refugees from

Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...

and Hardwar.

Later life

After

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, Swami Anand took an interest in agriculture and agrarian issues. He was concerned about agricultural productivity and livelihoods, but had deep respect for the practical wisdom of small farmers. He was inspired by

George Washington Carver George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American Agricultural science, agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent bla ...

and Robert Oppenheimer, whose biography he wrote. From 1957 to 1976, he made the Kosbad Agricultural Institute at Dahanu, near Bombay, his home. He died on 25 January 1976 at 2:15 am in

following heart attack.

Literary career

Swami Anand was a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

, proficient in Gujarati, Marathi,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and English. He was acquainted with the classical and folk traditions of the Gujarati, Marathi and Sanskrit languages and was influenced by the works of

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

, Max Muller,

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yogi, maharishi, and Indian nationalist. He also edited the newspaper Bande Mataram (publication), ''Bande Mataram''. Aurobindo st ...

and

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindus, Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figu ...

. Besides fiction, Swami Anand also wrote on issues of science, religion and society. He had written memoirs, biographies, philosophies, travelogues and translations. Many of his works were published posthumously. He has written several character sketches, biographical reflections and biographies of his friends and associates including ''Gandhijina Sansmarano'' (1963), ''Bhagwan Buddha'' (1964, co-written), ''Kulkathao'' (1966), ''Dharatinu Lun'' (1969), ''Motne Hamfavnara'' (1969), ''Santona Anuj'' (1971), ''Naghrol'' (1975), ''Santono Falo'' (1978). ''Kulkathao'', a series of pen portraits of people from the Bhatia caste, won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1969, but, he refused to accept the award due to his vow not to accept any monetary benefits for his writings. Gujarati writer and translator Mulshankar Bhatt has collected his best of the character sketches and published as ''Dharati Ni Arati'' (1977). In it, he has sketched the character of those people who had created a deep impression in his life. Some of the popular characters from it are Dhanima, Mahadev Desai, Vamandada and Dr. Mayadas. His philosophical essay collections include ''Isunu Balidan'' (1922), ''Ishopnishad'', ''Ishubhagwat'' (1977), ''Lokgeeta'', ''Navla Darshan Ane Bija Lekho'' (1968), ''Manavtana Veri'' (1966), ''Anant Kala'' (1967), ''Atamna Mool'' (1967), ''Sarvoday Vicharana'' (co-written). His ''Anant Kala'' is a meditation on nature and spirituality, while his writing also covers the

Upanishads The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...

and the Sarvodaya Movement extensively. These essays share views on religion and society based on the concept of '' Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava'' which he had embraced. He also produced travelogues based on his travels in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

which were published in ''Prasthan'' magazine between 1954 and 1960 and posthumously published in ''Uttarapathni Yatra'' and ''Baraf Raste Badrinath'' (1980). His translation of Sven Hedin's travel writing as ''Asiana Bhraman Ane Sanshodhan'' in Gujarati, was also published posthumously in 1979. ''Bachpanna Bar Varsh'' (1982) is his incomplete autobiographical work. ''Juni Moodi'' (1980) is a collection of proverbs and idioms. Some of his other works include ''Ambavadiyun'' and ''Amaratvel'' and a compilation of correspondence between him and Gandhi's colleagues are contained in the ''Ugamani Dishano Ujas'' and ''Dhodhamar'', all edited by Dinkar Joshi. A biography of Swami Anand was written by Chandrakant Sheth and he is the central character in Sujata Bhatt's poem, "Point No Point".

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anand, Swami Gandhians 1887 births 1976 deaths Writers from Mumbai Monks of the Ramakrishna Mission Indian magazine editors Gujarati-language writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Gujarati Indian Hindu monks People from Surendranagar district Journalists from Gujarat 20th-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian biographers Indian autobiographers Indian travel writers 20th-century Indian philosophers Indian independence activists from Gujarat 20th-century Indian translators Missionary linguists