Autobiography of Poet Narmad

Autobiography of Poet Narmad “મારી હકીકત” in an autobiography of Poet Narmadashankar Lalshankar Dave in Gujarati, describes his journey of life in the mid of 19th century. His prose is not good like his poems however it’s a good document to read to understand society, customs, history and life of people under British rule those days. It was the time when varna of individuals were identified with suffix after name; Brahmin used શર્મ, Kshatriya વર્મ, Vaishya ગુપ્ત and Shudra દાસ. He was Narmadashankar Sharm. His surname was Dave corruption of Dwivedi the students and reciters of Rigveda and Yajurveda. They were worshipers of Lord Shiva, therefore males had Shankar and female had Gauri as suffix to their names. His name was Narmadashankar and his wives were Gulabgauri, Dahyagauri, (Subhadra) Narmadagauri. His ancestors were from Anandpur to Vadnagar of North Gujarat. Many Nagar Brahmin including Narsinh Mehta were known as Vadnagara Brahmin. The town of Vadnagar was plundered thrice; in 588 by Maletch (non Vedic invaders), in 1215 by the successors of Ghori and in 1725 by the Maratha. In one of those events, his ancestors migrated from Vadnagar to Champaner. Champaner was won by Mahmud Begada of Ahmedabad with the help of Rav Kshatriya of Idar in 1484. The last ruler of Champaner Raval Jesang (known as Patai Raja) though supported by the Muslim ruler of Malwa but was defeated. To avoid atrocities by the Muslim his ancestors moved from Champaner to Surat. Many of the Nagar Brahmin had migrated from Vadnagar to other parts of Gujarat that was Patan, Siddhpur, Idar, Junagadh, Chanpaner, Surat, Mumbai etc. He couldn’t finish his college education though tried twice but was good at algebra and geometry and had studied Sanskrit and English, therefore got a job of a teacher and later served as Asst Headmaster but was brave enough to leave the job and passed his life with the support of pen. He managed his livelihood, publications and literary work with the help of fees and donations. Those days, one could get a job with a recommendation letter of known person of the recruiter. British officers were keeping teachers to learn vernacular language. The status of government clerk was superior to traders and Pandits. શેરની દોલતે શેઠિયા તાજા, Gujarati sheth were earning good through share trading. A reformist in him is more dominant than a poet in his notes. Caste Society was such orthodox that one had to take its permission to go abroad. Widow marriage was prohibited. Narmad faced boycott of his ન્યાત (society) for supporting widow marriage. The reformist managed one widow marriage. The society boycotted the couple and the oppose was so strong that when the woman died her body remained unattended for hours as none was ready to see the face of the dead body. He advocated widow marriage and married to a widow though had a living wife. His reformist mind opposed the inequality prevailed within his Nagar Brahmin caste where the society was divided into householders (ગૃહસ્થ) and beggars (ભિક્ષુક) in which the previous had source of income through jobs while the later was dependent on donation (દક્ષિણા). The social status of the Bhikshuk group of Brahmin was so lower that their wives had to eat community meal without wearing upper body garment while the householder women could. He gathered a poor impression (immoral acts) about the Brahmin women of Chanod and Kanyali (Karnali). He was growing up in poetry while Dalpatram was an established poet. But when he compared his works with him he felt himself superior as he went through the organised path of making poems by using sutras of Pingal. He believed that for a good poetry one should have immagination, idea and logic covered with the clothes of language. He was a great poet, the founder of modern Gujarati literature. His poem જય જય ગરવી ગુજરાત written in 1873 is our State anthem. Punamchand 7th April 2025