Kundanika Kapadia

Kundanika Kapadia Biography

Kundanika Kapadia is an Indian writer belonging to Gujarati literature. She authors novels, short stories and essays. She authors both fictional and non-fictional works. She is the wife of popular Gujarati writer, Makarand Dave. Snehdhan is her pen name. Parodh Thata Pahela (1968) is her first novel. Dhumketu, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Shakespeare and Ebson are among her influences. Her work - Sat Pagala Akashma earned her prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati in 1985. Dhanji Kanji Gandhi Suvarna Chandrak in 1984, Gujarati Sahitya Parishad for Chandra Tara Vriksh Vadal are other major honours.

Kundanika Kapadia was born on 11 January 1927 at Limbdi, present day Gujarat. Her birth place now belongs to Surendranagar district. Her schooling was done at Godhra. During her younger days she got involved with freedom struggle movement. She later completed her BA and MA studies but couldn’t write exams for her Master’s degree. She married Gujarati poet Makarand Dave in Mumbai in 1968, and the couple then founded Nadigram, an ashram near Vankal village in 1985. She also served as an editor of a couple of magazines.

She published her first novel in 1968, and Agnipipasa, Sat Pagala Akashma etc are among her best novels later. Sat Pagala Akashma is widely regarded as her masterpiece, which dealt with feminism. The novel bagged Sahitya Akademi Award also. Premna Ansu was her first short story, and later she published a collection of stories with the same name. Vadhu ne Vadhu Sundar, Kagalni Hodi, Java Daishu Tamane and Manushya Thavu are her other poetry collections. She also published essays, prayer collections etc, apart from Gujarati translation of several books of international acclaim.

Published: January 10, 2019

Updated: January 10, 2019