Balashankar Kantharia
{{short description|Gujarati poet and translator}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Balashankar Kantharia
| image = BalashankarKanthariaPic.jpg
| caption =
| native_name =
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| pseudonym = Kalant Kavi, Bal,Nijanand,Mast
| birth_name = Balashankar Ullasram Kantharia
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1858|5|17}}
| birth_place =Nadiad, Gujarat
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1898|4|1|1858|5|17}}
| death_place = Vadodara, Gujarat
| occupation = poet, translator
| language = Gujarati
| nationality = Indian
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| notableworks = Hariprem Panchdashi
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}}
Balashankar Ullasram Kantharia (May 17, 1858 – April 1, 1898),{{Cite book|title=History of Indian Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHklK65TKQ0C|volume=1|last=Sisir Kumar Das|year=2000|page=245|isbn = 9788172010065}} was a Gujarati poet.
Biography
Balashankar Kantharia was born on May 17, 1858, into a Sathodara Nagar Brahmin family in Nadiad, Bombay Presidency (now in Gujarat, India).{{Cite web|url=https://sureshbjani.wordpress.com/2006/07/03/balashankar_kanthariya|date=3 July 2006|access-date=23 August 2016|title=બાલાશંકર કંથારીયા|language=gu}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vnJjAAAAMAAJ|title=Love Poems & Lyrics from Gujarati|last=Jeṭhālāla Nārāyaṇa Trivedī|year=1987|page=145}} He was born to Ullasram Arjunlal Kantharia, a government magistrate, and Revaba, and had one brother, Umedram, and one sister, Rukshmani. Balashankar had studied till the first year of his college. He was a polyglot and knew Gujarati, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Braj and Hindi languages as well as music and archaeology. His wife's name was Manilakshmi.{{cite book |last=Suhrud|first=Tridip|author-link=Tridip Suhrud|title=Narrations of a Nation: Explorations Through Intellectual Biographies|chapter=Love, Desire and Moksha: Manibhai Nabhubhai and the Loss of Svadharma|chapter-url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/46631/8/08_chapter%203.pdf|year=1999|publisher=School of Social Sciences, Gujarat University|location=Ahmedabad|type=Ph.D|page=106|hdl=10603/46631}}
He briefly worked in government service. He managed Bharati Bhusan, Itihas Mala, Krishna Mahoday magazines. He served as an editor of Buddhiprakash magazine briefly. He is considered as the founder of the modern Gujarati poetry and Ghazal. Manilal Dwivedi was his close friend. He considered himself as a follower of Dalpatram and was expert in poetry in Shikharini metre. It is believed that Kalapi had learned Ghazal poetry from him and Manilal Dwivedi.{{Cite book|title=Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Surveys and poems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1R2Pa3f7r0C|last=K. M. George|year=1992|page=124|isbn = 9788172013240}}
He died due to the plague, on April 1, 1898, at Baroda (now Vadodara, Gujarat).
Works
File:Balashankar Kantharia plaque.jpg at Balashankar Kantharia's birth place]]
Kalant Kavi and Bal were his pen names. He is credited with bringing Persian style poetry such as Ghazal in Gujarati literature. Kalant Kavi and Hariprem Panchdashi are his collections of poetry. He had translated Karpūramañjarī by Rajasekhara, Mṛcchakatika and Sufi Ghazals of Hafez in Gujarati.
"Gujare Je Shire Tare" is his popular ghazal poetry composed in Bah’r Hazaj Saalim metre.{{Cite book|title=Gujarat|volume=2|last=Smt. Hiralaxmi Navanitbhai Shah Dhanya Gurjari Kendra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4oMAQAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Gujarat Vishvakosh Trust}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last=Mehta |first=Narmadashankar |author-link=Narmadashankar Mehta |title=કવિબાલ: તેમનું જીવન અને સાહિત્યસેવા |trans-title=Poet Bal: His Life and Literary Works |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.537813 |language=gu |series=Gujarat Vernacular Society Annual Lecture Series No. 8}}
External links
- {{GujLit author}}
- {{Internet Archive|id=in.ernet.dli.2015.304992|name=Kalant Kavi}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kantharia, Balashankar}}
Category:Gujarati-language writers
Category:People from Kheda district
Category:Gujarati-language poets