Rasiklal Parikh

Rasiklal Chhotalal Parikh (1897–1982) was a 20th-century

Rasiklal Parikh was born on 20 August 1897 at the village of Pethapur, now in Gandhinagar district. His father, Chhotalal Lalubhai Parikh, was a lawyer in Sadra, Gandhinagar. His mother, Chanchalbahen, belonged to a stock-broker family. Chanchalben was well educated for the time, when it was unusual for Gujarati women to study. She read both Sanskrit and Gujarati. She played an important role in shaping Rasiklal's interest in literature.

Rasiklal spent his childhood in Sadra, completing his primary school education there. He shifted to Ahmedabad for further education and attended Diwan Ballubhai High School, matriculating in 1913. In the same year he married Manekbahen, who also lived in Sadra.^[1]

After his matriculation, he moved to Pune and joined

Parikh died on 1 November 1982, the day of Sharad Purnima, in Ahmedabad.^[4]

Works

Parikh wrote extensively in literature, poetics, philosophy, drama, poetry, history, aesthetics and criticism.

His first publication was a Gujarati translation of Kavyaprakasha by Mammata with critical notes; he co-translated with Ramnarayan V. Pathak. It was published in 1924 by Gujarat Vidyapith. During his stay in Vidyapith, he also published Vaidik Pathavali in 1927, again a translation with critical notes of some parts of the Vedas and Brahmana. In 1938 he published Hemachandra's Kavyanushasan (Vol. 1 – 2), including his account of the author's life, works and their historical background. This is considered a significant work in Gujarati historical writing as it gives a detailed historical outline from the ancient to the Solanki eras.^[1]

In 1931, he published his first play, Pahelo Kalal, which was an adaptation of a story by

He delivered the Maharaja Sayajirao Lectures Series at M. S. University of Baroda, which was published later as Anand Mimansa (1963). His radio talks were published as Aakashabhashit in 1974. He critiqued Bhasa's Sanskrit works in Sanskrit Natak Sahitya (1980). His Purovachan ane Vivechan, published in 1965, is a collection of applied criticism. He delivered the Vidyaben Neelkanth Lectures Series on the novel Saraswatichandra in 1972; these were published as a book in 1976 as Saraswatichandrano Mahima – Eni Patrasrishtima.^[2]

He also contributed in the field of history, including Gujaratni Rajdhanio (1958), Itihas Swarup Ane Paddhati (1969) and Gujaratno Rajakiya Ane Sanskrutik Itihas (Vol. 1 to 6; with others).^[2]

Jivan Na Vaheno is a collection of short stories. Rasiklal studied Dalpatram's book on Gujarati prosody, Dalpat Pingal, while at school. Due to the close association with Ramnarayan V. Pathak, he was inspired to write poems, publishing frequently in Yugadharma magazine. His collected poems were published as Smriti.^[1][3]

Awards

• List of Gujarati-language writers

References