Indian lyrical poet and author
Rajendra Keshavlal Shah (28 January 1913 – 2 January 2010) was a lyrical poet who wrote in
Gujarati . Born in Kapadvanj, he authored more than 20 collections of poems and songs, mainly on the themes of the beauty of nature, and about the everyday lives of indigenous peoples and fisherfolk communities. In his poems using Sanskrit metrics, he was influenced by
Rabindranath Tagore . He is considered one of the giants of post Gandhi-era in
Gujarati literature .
[1]
Among his various professions, Shah was also a publisher in
Mumbai , where he launched the poetry magazine
Kavilok in 1957.
[2] The press itself became an important Sunday meeting-place for Gujarati poets. Apart from writing poetry, Shah also translated into Gujarati Tagore's poetry collection Balaaka ;
Jayadeva's
Gita Govinda ;
Coleridge's
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ; and
Dante's
The Divine Comedy .
[3]
Shah won the
Jnanpith Award for 2001.
Biography
Shah was born in 1913 in
Kapadvanj , a town in the erstwhile
Bombay Presidency of
British India (in present-day
Kheda district of
Gujarat , India). After attending
Wilson College in
Mumbai , he graduated with a degree in philosophy from the
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda . Shah's first poem came in print in Wilsonian , the college magazine of the Wilson College, in 1933.
[4]
In 1930, he discontinued from the study, as he was arrested in
Civil disobedience movement and sentenced to the jail. In 1931, he married Manjula Agrawal.
[5]
Later, in 1934, he earned his bachelor's degree in
philosophy from The
Maharaja Sayajirao University of
Baroda , and thereafter, started his career by teaching school students in
Ahmedabad .
[6]
He died on 2 January 2010 in Mumbai.
[7]
Bibliography
Poetry collections
Dhvani (1951)
Andolan (1952)
Shruti (1957)
Morpinchh (1959)
Shant Kolahal (1962)
Chitrana (1967)
Kshan je Chirantan (1968)
Vishadne Saad (1968)
Madhyama (1978)
Ikshana (1979)
Udgiti (1979)
Patralekha (1981)
Prasang Saptak (1982)
Dwasupama (1983)
Panch Parva (1983)
Vibhavan (1983)
Chandan Bhini and Anamik (1987)
Aranyak (1992)
[8]
Smritisamvedana (1998)
Virahmadhuri (1999)
Vrajvaikunthe (2002)
Ha... Hu Sakshi Chhu' (2003)
Premno Paryay (2004)
Aa Gagan (2005)
Awards
Kavi Rajendra Keshavlal Shah Library located near Himmatlal Park in Ahmedabad
He won
Kumar Chandrak in 1947,
Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak in 1956.
He received
Sahitya Akademi Award (1963) for his book Shant Kolahal .
[9] He is also a recipient of Aurobindo Suvarna Chandrak presented (1980) by
Gujarati Sahitya Parishad ,
Sahitya Gaurav Puraskar (1992) and
Narsinh Mehta Award (1999). He received
Jnanpith Award , considered to be India's highest literary award, in 2001. The judges noted, "his intensity of emotion and innovation in form and expression which set him apart as a poet of great significance. The mystical tone of his poetry stems from the tradition of great medieval masters like
Narsinh Mehta ,
Kabir and
Akho ."
[10]
[3]
References
^ Mehta, Deepak B. (August 2003).
"In love with the world" .
Frontline . 20 (16).
^ Lal, Mohan, ed. (1992). "Shah, Rajendra Keshavlal". Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature . Vol. 5 (2001 ed.).
Delhi :
Sahitya Akademi . pp. 3944–45.
^
a
b Shah, Rajendra Keshavlal (25 July 2003).
" 'I Write What My Inner Voice Says' " .
Outlook (Interview). Interviewed by Darshan Desai. Retrieved 9 January 2013 .
^ Oza, Nandini (27 July 2003).
"His poetry is from 'within' " . Deccan Herald . Archived from
the original on 27 December 2003. Retrieved 22 November 2021 .
^
"Meet the Author: Rajendra Shah" (PDF) .
Sahitya Akademi . Retrieved 19 September 2017 .
^ Suguna Ramanathan and Rita Kothari (1998). Modern Gujarati Poetry: A Selection .
New Delhi :
Sahitya Akademi . p. 85.
ISBN
81-260-0294-8 .
^
"Gujarati poet Rajendra Shah(97) passes away" . DeshGujarat News from Gujarat . 3 January 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2017 .
^
"Third Gujarati to win Jnanpith" .
The Hindu .
New Delhi . 18 July 2003. Archived from
the original on 18 September 2003. Retrieved 12 October 2018 .
^ Jani, Jyotish (1992). "Shant Kolahal". In Lal, Mohan (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature . Vol. 5 (2001 ed.).
Delhi :
Sahitya Akademi . p. 3972.
^ Mehta, Harit (19 July 2003).
"At 90, Jnanpith winner Rajendra creative as ever" .
The Times of India .
Ahmedabad . Archived from
the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013 .
External links
1965–1985 1986–2000 2001–present
1968–1980
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1968)
D. R. Bendre ,
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay ,
Sumitranandan Pant ,
C. Rajagopalachari (1969)
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer ,
Firaq Gorakhpuri ,
Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar ,
Viswanatha Satyanarayana (1970)
Kaka Kalelkar ,
Gopinath Kaviraj ,
Gurbaksh Singh ,
Kalindi Charan Panigrahi (1971)
Masti Venkatesha Iyengar ,
Mangharam Udharam Malkani ,
Nilmoni Phukan ,
Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi ,
Sukumar Sen ,
V. R. Trivedi (1973)
T. P. Meenakshisundaram (1975)
Atmaram Ravaji Deshpande ,
Jainendra Kumar ,
Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa 'Kuvempu' ,
V. Raghavan ,
Mahadevi Varma (1979)
1981–2000
Umashankar Joshi ,
K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar ,
K. Shivaram Karanth (1985)
Mulk Raj Anand ,
Vinayaka Krishna Gokak ,
Laxmanshastri Balaji Joshi ,
Amritlal Nagar ,
Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai ,
Annada Shankar Ray (1989)
Nagarjun ,
Balamani Amma ,
Ashapurna Devi ,
Qurratulain Hyder ,
Vishnu Bhikaji Kolte ,
Kanhu Charan Mohanty ,
P. T. Narasimhachar ,
R. K. Narayan ,
Harbhajan Singh (1994)
Jayakanthan ,
Vinda Karandikar ,
Vidya Niwas Mishra ,
Subhash Mukhopadhyay ,
Raja Rao ,
Sachidananda Routray ,
Krishna Sobti (1996)
Syed Abdul Malik ,
K. S. Narasimhaswamy ,
Gunturu Seshendra Sarma ,
Rajendra Shah ,
Ram Vilas Sharma ,
N. Khelchandra Singh (1999)
Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar ,
Rehman Rahi (2000)
2001–present
Ram Nath Shastri (2001)
Kaifi Azmi ,
Govind Chandra Pande ,
Nilamani Phookan ,
Bhisham Sahni (2002)
Kovilan ,
U. R. Ananthamurthy ,
Vijaydan Detha ,
Bhadriraju Krishnamurti ,
Amrita Pritam ,
Shankha Ghosh ,
Nirmal Verma (2004)
Manoj Das ,
Vishnu Prabhakar (2006)
Anita Desai ,
Kartar Singh Duggal ,
Ravindra Kelekar (2007)
Gopi Chand Narang ,
Ramakanta Rath (2009)
Chandranath Mishra Amar ,
Kunwar Narayan ,
Bholabhai Patel ,
Kedarnath Singh ,
Khushwant Singh (2010)
Raghuveer Chaudhari ,
Arjan Hasid ,
Sitakant Mahapatra ,
M. T. Vasudevan Nair ,
Asit Rai ,
Satya Vrat Shastri (2013)
Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa ,
C. Narayana Reddy (2014)
Nirendranath Chakravarty ,
Gurdial Singh (2016)
Honorary Fellows Premchand Fellowship Ananda Coomaraswamy Fellowship
1955–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
International National Artists