Alexander Kinloch Forbes

Alexander Kinloch Forbes

Alexander Kinloch Forbes (Gujarati: એલેક્ઝાન્ડર કિન્લોક ફૉર્બસ) (1821–1865) was a scholar of the Gujarati language and a colonial administrator in British India.

Life

Forbes arrived in India in 1843 and was appointed as a civil servant in Bombay Province. He met Dalpatram, a Gujarati poet, in 1848 who taught him Gujarati while Forbes encouraged him to write in Gujarati. They became close friends. He inspired Dalpatram to write Laxmi Natak published in 1849, the first play in Gujarati, based on Greek drama Plutus.[1][2]

He visited many Jain libraries in search of bards who told the stories of history of Gujarat. In 1856, he published Rasmala which documented the history from 8th century to arrival of British and folk literature of Gujarat in two volumes.[1][3] It was later translated into Gujarati by Ranchhodlal Udayaram Dave in 1869.[2]

In 1848 he started the Gujarat Vernacular Society in Ahmedabad, which contributed to a literary renaissance in Gujarati. He also founded Andrews Library in Surat in 1850 and Gujarati Sabha in Bombay in 1865. Gujarati Sabha was later renamed Farbas Gujarati Sabha after him. He organized conclave of Gujarati poets in 1852 at Idar State. Dalpatram's Farbesvilas was an account of these conclave.[1][2]

As an administrator, he served various post in cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Bombay and finally at Pune, where he died in 1865. Dalpatram composed Farbesvirah, a Gujarati elegy in his memory.[1][2]

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Unnithan, Chitra (2014-02-22). "Briton inspired Dalpatram to write in Gujarati language". The Times of India. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Amaresh Datta (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature. Sahitya Akademi. p. 1319. ISBN 978-81-260-1194-0.
  3. ↑ Surinder Singh; I. D. Gaur (2008). Popular Literature and Pre-modern Societies in South Asia. Pearson Education India. pp. 181–182. ISBN 978-81-317-1358-7.