Dalpatram

Dalpatram Dahyabhai Travadi (21 January 1820 – 25 March 1898) was a Gujarati language poet during 19th century in India. He was the father of Nanalal Dalpatram Kavi, a poet. He led social reform movements in Ahmedabad, and wrote articles against superstitions, caste restrictions and child marriage. He dealt with the problem of widow remarriage at length in his poem, Vencharitra. Dalpatram was born on 21 January 1820 at Wadhwan city of Surendranagar district in a Brahmin family. His father's name is Dahyabhai. Dalpatram grew up to the resonant chanting of 'mantras' and recitations of religious scriptures. He was a child prodigy and displayed his extraordinary literary skills by composing hondulas at the age of 12. He mastered the structures of rhyme, poesis and 'Vrajbhasha' as a Swaminarayan devotee under Brahmanand Swami, and later moved to Ahmedabad at the age of 24. Dalpatram died on 25 March 1898 at Ahmedabad. Dalpatram was a Sanskrit scholar and poet. Dalpatram taught Gujarati language to Alexander Kinloch Forbes, a British colonial administrator to Ahmedabad. Gujarati was considered at the bottom of language hierarchy during those times, so he preferred to write his poems in Brajbhasha instead of Gujarati, his mothertongue. Forbes encouraged him to write in Gujarati. Forbes and Dalpatram became close friends, and he inspired Dalpatram to write Laxmi Natak published in 1849, the first modern play in Gujarati, based on Greek drama Plutus. Forbes, who wanted Gujarati literature to develop, had helped start the Gujarat Vernacular Society. He served as its first assistant secretary and started the Buddhiprakash periodical in 1850, editing it until 1878. When Forbes died in 1865, Dalpatram composed Farbesvirah, a Gujarati elegy, and Farbesvilas, his account of the gathering of bards, both dedicated to him. At the end of the 19th century, he was entitled Mahakavi (Great Poet) by Sahajanand Swami, the founder of Swaminarayan Sampraday. Unlike Narmad, another prominent Gujarati poet of the same period, Dalpatram supported British rule for the benefits it gave India.