Jyotindra Dave

Jyotindra Dave Biography

Jyotindra Dave was an Indian writer belonging to Gujarati literature. He gained recognition as a humourist, and is widely regarded as the greatest writer belonging to this genre. He lived at Surat in the 20^th century during 21 October 1901 - 11 September 1980. He was a recipient of several literary honours including the prestigious Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak (1941) and Narmad Suvarna Chandrak (1950). He also served as a president of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad in 1966. In the later years he served as an editor for publications. Hasya-tarang (1945), Pan na Beeda (1946), Alpatma nu Atmapuran (1947) and Ret ni Rotli (1952) are some of his selected humour works.

Jyotindra Dave was born in Surat, Gujarat on 21 October 1901. He spent his childhood and academic years in his hometown where he completed his schooling, graduation and Master’s. After completion of his studies in 1925, he joined K. M. Munshi in Bombay to write history of Gujarati literature. He had a brief stint as a school teacher and also worked as an editor of a Gujarati magazine. He taught at MTB College, Surat for 4 years and then returned to Mumbai to take up the job of a translator in Oriental office of Bombay Government. He worked in the same organization until his retirement in 1956. He later taught Gujarati language at different colleges.

As a writer, he gave importance to humour and satire works. He tried different genres comedy such as satire, parody, wit, conceit etc. Initially he published a series of humorous sketches between 1927 and 1932 under the pseudonym of Gupta, in various forms of publications. Later he published them as books - Mari Nondhapothi and Rangatarang in 6 volumes.

Published: January 14, 2019

Updated: January 14, 2019