Hargovinddas Kantawala


Rao Bahadur Hargovinddas Dwarkadas Kantawala was an Indian Gujarati language writer, editor and researcher from British India. He is known for his research and editing works on medieval Gujarati literature. He was the president of the sixth session of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad.

Biography

Hargovinddas Kantawala was born on 16 July 1844 in Umreth, a town in Anand district of Gujarat, British India. He started his career as a teacher, and then became headmaster. He later became clerk in a collector's office. He was appointed assistant deputy educational inspector, and then principal of the Teacher's Training College, Rajkot. He worked as the dewan of the principality of Lunavada State in 1905. In 1912, he started a textile mill.
Kantawala was awarded the title of Rao Bahadur by the government in 1903. He was awarded Sahityamartand by Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Maharaja of Baroda State. He defeated Mahatma Gandhi in the 1919 Gujarati Sahitya Parishad election for the position of president, and presided over the sixth session of the Parishad.
He died on 31 March 1930. His son Matubhai Kantawala was also a writer.

Works

Kantawala is known for his research and editing works on medieval Gujarati literature. Between 1849 and 1894, he, along with Nathashankar Shastri and Chhotalal Narbheram Bhatt, collected and edited poems of medieval Gujarati poets, and published them in 75 collections.
He wrote two novels: Andheri Nagarino Gardhavasen and Be Baheno athava Ek Gharsansari Varta.
He wrote a poem titled "Panipat" or "Kurukshetra", which gives an account of the six battles fought on the battlefield of Panipat and forecasts the seventh battle between Superstition and Reform that is to be fought there. Critic Mansukhlal Jhaveri noted that the poem's language is 'unpolished' and 'vulgar' at places, and the style is 'crude', yet 'forceful'. His other poetical work is Vishwa Ni Vichitrata.
In addition, he extensively wrote about social problems, social reforms, moral issues, worldly duties, and promotion of indigenous crafts.