Narmadashankar Dave

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Narmadashankar Lalshankar Dave
Born August 24, 1833 (1833-08-24)
Surat, Gujarat, India
Died February 26, 1886 (aged 52)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Pen name Narmad
Occupation Poet, Novelist
Nationality India
Official website

Narmadashankar Lalshankar Dave (Gujarati: નર્મદાશંકર લાલશંકર દવે) (August 24, 1833 – February 26, 1886), popularly known as Narmad, was a Gujarati author, poet, scholar and public speaker.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Narmad was born in Surat on August 24, 1833. He introduced many creative forms of writing in Gujarati. He wrote pioneering work in such forms as autobiography, poetry, lexicography, historical plays and research in folk literature. He was also an outspoken journalist and a pamphleteer. Narmad was a strong opponent of religious fanaticism and orthodoxy. He promoted nationalism and patriotism, wrote about self-government and talked about one national language, Hindi, for all of India, nearly five decades before Mohandas Gandhi or Nehru. He wrote a poem Jai Jai Garavi Gujarat in which he listed with a sense of pride all the cultural symbols that go into constituting the Gujarat identity. These symbols include even the things non-Hindu, implying that Gujarat belongs to all the castes, communities, races, religions and sects that inhabit Gujarat. It was this devout poet whose debt Gandhi acknowledged for his philosophy of non-violence. With the help of some friends, Narmad published a newsletter called Daandiyo, modeled after The Spectator, a weekly British magazine. He died of Arthritis on February 26, 1886.

There is a huge library namely "Narmad Central Library" managed by Surat Municipal Corporation located at Ghod-Dod Road & Athwalines Main Road Junction, Near Umra Police Station having more than 1,50,00 books and 35,000 members.

[edit] Works

  • Narmagadya (નર્મગદ્ય) - Collection of Essays
  • Narmakavita (નર્મકવિતા) - Collection of Poems
  • Narmakathakosh (નર્મકથાકોશ)
  • Maari Haqeeqat (મારી હકીકત) - Autobiography
  • Daandiyo (ડાંડિયો) - Newsletter

[edit] Honors

In 2005, the name of South Gujarat University was changed to Veer Narmad South Gujarat University by the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.

[edit] External links

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