Jhaverchand Meghani

Who was Jhaverchand Meghani?

Jhaverchand Meghani was a noted poet, litterateur, social reformer and freedom fighter from Gujarat. He is a well known name in the field of Gujarati literature. He was born in Chotila. Mahatma Gandhi spontaneously gave him the title of Raashtreeya Shaayar. Besides this he received many awards like Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak and Mahida Paaritoshik in literature. He authored more than 100 books. His first book was a translation work of Rabindranath Tagore's ballad Kathaa-u-Kaahinee titled Kurbani Ni Katha which was first published in 1922. He contributed widely to Gujarati folk literature. He went from village to village in search of folk-lores and published them in various volumes of Saurashtra Ni Rasdhar. He was also the Editor of Phoolchhab Newspaper of Janmabhoomi group.

A sample of his collection of folk tales from Saurashtra has recently been published in an English, with the translation done by his son Vinod Meghani. The three volumes published so far are titled A Noble Heritage, A Shade Crimson and The Ruby Shattered.