Tribhuvandas Purushottamdas Luhar, better known by his pen name Sundaram, (22 March 1908 – 13 January 1991), was a Gujarati poet and author from India.

Life

He was born on 22 March 1908 at Miyan Matar,

Bharuch Bharuch () is a city at the mouth of the river Narmada in Gujarat in western India. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District. The city of Bharuch and surroundings have been settled since times of antiquity. It was a shi ...

, Bombay Presidency,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He completed his primary education in local school of Matar and five grades in English medium at Amod, Gujarat. Later he studied at Chhotubhai Purani's Rashtriya New English School, Bharuch. He graduated in languages from Gujarat Vidyapith,

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 ...

in 1929. He started teaching in Gurukul at Songadh. He participated in

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 ...

and was imprisoned for some time. He was associated with Jyotisangh, the women's organisation in Ahmedabad, from 1935 to 1945. He was introduced to

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 ...

in 1945, and he moved to

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

. He presided over

Gujarati Sahitya Parishad Gujarati Sahitya Parishad () is a literary organisation for the promotion of Gujarati literature located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It was founded by Ranjitram Mehta with the aim of creating literature appealing to all classes of society and ...

in 1970. He died on 13 January 1991.

Works

Though he started with poetry, he successfully ventured into other field of literature. His poetry and prose both are imaginative, intense and full of brilliance. His works have also spiritual as well as social elements. His transition from different philosophical phases;

progressivism Progressivism is a Left-right political spectrum, left-leaning political philosophy and Reformism, reform political movement, movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has unive ...

, communism,

Gandhian philosophy Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. The ...

and self realisation philosophy of Aurobindo; are evident in his works.

Poetry

He started writing poetry in 1926 under pen name, Marichi and "Ekansh De" was his first poem followed by more poems under pen name, Vishwakarma. He published his poem ''Bardoline'' in 1928 under pen name, Sundaram and adopted it for lifetime. ''Koya Bhagatni Kadvi Vaani ane Garibo na Geeto'' ( Bitter tongue of Koya Bhagat and Songs of the Poor) (1933) was his first poetry collection followed by ''Kavyamangala'' ( Auspicious Poems) (1933). He published another collection ''Vasudha'' (1939) and the collection of children's poetry, ''Rang Rang Vadaliya'' (1939). His ''Yatra'' ( The Journey) (1951) is influenced by the philosophy of Aurobindo.

Short stories

Under pen name, Trishul, he published the short story collections. They are ''Hirakani ane Bijee Vatu'' (1938), ''Piyasi'' (1940), Unnayan (1945, republished ''Kholki and Nagarika'' with more stories), ''Tarini'' (1978), ''Pavakna Panthe '' (1978).

Criticism

'' Arvachin Kavita'' (1946) is a literary criticism of Gujarati poetry from 1845 to 1945. ''Avalokana'' is his another work of criticism while ''Sahitya Chintan'' (1978) is a collection of articles on principles of literary criticism.

Other

''Vasanti Poornima'' (1977) is a collection of

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

s. ''Dakshinayan'' (1942) is a travelogue of his travel of

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. ''Chidambara'' is his memoir while ''Samarchana'' is an anthology of articles about his view of life. He also wrote ''Saavidya'' (1978). ''Sri Arvind Mahayogi'' (1950) is a short biography of Sri Aurobindo. He translated several Sanskrit, Hindi and English works into Gujarati. They include ''Bhagvajjukiyam'' (1940), '' Mṛcchakatika'' (1944), ''Kaya Palat'' (1961), ''Janata ane Jan'' (1965), ''Aisi hai Zindagi'' ane some writings of Aurobindo and The Mother. He edited the magazines ''Dakshina'' and ''Baldakshina'' published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

Awards

He was awarded Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak in 1934 for ''Kavyamangala''. He received Narmad Gold Medal in 1955 for his poetry collection ''Yatra'' and Mahida Prize in 1946 for criticism. He received

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

for Gujarati writers in 1968 for his work of criticism, ''Avalokan''. He was awarded

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, the third-highest civilian award, in 1985.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luhar, Tribhuvandas Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Gujarati-language poets 1908 births 1991 deaths Gujarati-language writers Indian literary critics Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Gujarati Sri Aurobindo 20th-century Indian poets Indian male poets Poets from Gujarat Recipients of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak 20th-century translators Presidents of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad