Swami Anand (1887 – 25 January 1976) was a monk, a

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalis ...

activist and a Gujarati writer from India. He was the manager of Gandhi's publications such as ''Navajivan'' and ''

Young India ''Young India'' was a weekly paper or journal in English founded by Lala Lajpat Rai in 1916 and later published by Mahatma Gandhi. Through this work, Mahatma Gandhi desired to popularise India's demand of self-government or Swaraj. It was publ ...

'' and inspired Gandhi to write his autobiography, ''

The Story of My Experiments with Truth ''The Story of My Experiments with Truth'' ( gu, Satya Na Prayogo athva Atmakatha, ) is the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, covering his life from early childhood through to 1921. It was written in weekly installments and published in his jo ...

''. He wrote sketches, memoir, biographies, philosophy, travelogues and translated some works.

Biography

Early life

Swami Anand was born Himmatlal on 8 September 1887 at Shiyani village near

Wadhwan Wadhwan, also spelled Vadhwan, is a city and a municipality in Surendranagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located on the banks of the Bhogavo River, around 3 km from Surendranagar and 111 km from Ahmedabad, Wadhwan is a ...

to Ramchandra Dave (Dwivedi) and Parvati in Audichya Brahmin family. His father was a teacher. He was among seven siblings. He was brought up and educated in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. At the age of ten, he left home in opposition to marriage and due to an offer by a monk to show him God. He wandered for three years with several different monks. He took a vow of renunciation while still in his teens, took on the name Swami Anand and became a monk with the

Ramakrishna Mission Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) is a Hindu religious and spiritual organisation which forms the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as the ''Ramakrishna Movement'' or the ''Vedanta Movement''. The mission is named after and inspired by th ...

. He also lived at the Advaita Ashram where he studied. Anand's entry into the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal ...

was through his association with the revolutionaries of Bengal in 1905. Later, he worked in the '' Kesari'', the Marathi newspaper founded by

Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...

, in 1907. He was also involved in independence activities in rural regions. He also edited the Gujarati edition of Marathi daily ''Rashtramat'' during the same period. When it was closed down, he travelled the Himalayas in 1909. In 1912, he taught at the Hill Boys School in

Almoda Almoda Rana Uprety is a Nepalese singer. He has released songs such as "Funtastic (Pani Paryo)", "Kaile Vetne Khai" , "Timi Ma Sanga",- - Kaile Vetne Khai 2 (Nyasro)" and "Jyanle Timlai". Early life Almoda started his career after being the s ...

which was founded by

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human ...

Gandhi's associate

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

first met Anand in Bombay on 10 January 1915, the day after he had returned from South Africa. Gandhi launched his weekly, the '' Navjeevan'' from

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per ...

four years later. Its inaugural issue came out in September 1919 and soon the workload increased. It was at this juncture that Gandhi sent for Anand to become the manager of the publication. Swami Anand took over its management in late 1919. He proved to be a good editor and manager and when the ''

'' was launched, he moved the publication to larger premises and with printing equipment donated by Mohammed Ali Jouhar, its publication began. In 18 March 1922, he was jailed for one and half years as a publisher for an article published in ''Young India''. Gandhi's autobiography was serialised in the ''Navjeevan'' from 1925 to 1928. It was written by Gandhi at Swami Anand's insistence and an English translation of these chapters appeared in installments in the ''Young India'' as well. Later, '' The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi'' was published based on the talks Gandhi gave at the Satyagraha Ashram in Ahmedabad in 1926. Swami Anand played a role in inspiring Gandhi to write this work as well. He was Vallabhai Patel's secretary during the

Bardoli Satyagraha The Bardoli Satyagraha, in the state of bardoli, India during the British Raj, was a major phase of civil disobedience and revolt in the Indian Independence Movement on 12 June 1928. The movement was eventually led by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a ...

of 1928. In 1930, he was again jailed for three years for participating in Salt Satyagraha at

Vile Parle Vile Parle (, also known as Parle, pronounced "Parle" or "Parla"), is a neighbourhood and also the name of the railway station in the Western suburb of Mumbai. Vile Parle has a significantly strong base of Marathi and Gujarati population. It s ...

in Bombay. When he was released in 1933, he focused on the upliftment of the tribals and the underprivileged. He also founded the

Ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (<

Kausani Kausani ( Kumaoni: ''Kôsānī'') is a hill station and Village situated in Bageshwar district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is famous for its scenic splendour and its spectacular 300 km-wide panoramic view of Himalayan peaks like ...

and

Kosbad Kosbad is a village in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, India. It is located in the Dahanu taluka. Demographics According to the 2011 census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, h ...

. He had also participated in relief work of the 1934 earthquake in north India and in the 1942

Quit India movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

. Following Partition in 1947, he worked amongst the refugees from

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

and Hardwar.

Later life

After

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

, Swami Anand took an interest in agriculture and agrarian issues. He was concerned about agricultural productivity and livelihoods, but had deep respect for the practical wisdom of small farmers. He was inspired by

George Washington Carver George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the e ...

and Robert Oppenheimer, whose biography he wrote. From 1957 to 1976, he made the Kosbad Agricultural Institute at

Dahanu Dahanu (Pronunciation: �əɦaːɳuː is a coastal town and a municipal council in Palghar district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is located 110 km from Mumbai city and hosts Adani Power’s thermal power station. It is the ...

, near Bombay, his home. He died on 25 January 1976 at 2:15 am in

following heart attack.

Literary career

Swami Anand was a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

, proficient in Gujarati, Marathi,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a cham ...

Max Muller Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

and

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intr ...

. Besides fiction, Swami Anand also wrote on issues of science, religion and society. He had written memoirs, biographies, philosophies, travelogues and translations. Many of his works were published posthumously. He has written several character sketches, biographical reflections and biographies of his friends and associates including ''Gandhijina Sansmarano'' (1963), ''Bhagwan Buddha'' (1964, co-written), ''Kulkathao'' (1966), ''Dharatinu Lun'' (1969), ''Motne Hamfavnara'' (1969), ''Santona Anuj'' (1971), ''Naghrol'' (1975), ''Santono Falo'' (1978). ''Kulkathao'', a series of pen portraits of people from the

Bhatia caste Bhatia is a group of people and a caste found in Punjab, Sindh and Gujarat. Traditionally, they have been a trading and merchant community. The Bhatias primarily live in Northwestern India and Pakistan.Tribalism in India, pp 160, By Kamaladevi ...

, won him the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1969, but, he refused to accept the award due to his vow not to accept any monetary benefits for his writings. Gujarati writer and translator

Mulshankar Bhatt Mulshankar Mohanlal Bhatt (1907–1984) was Gujarati translator, biographer, children's writer and educationist from Gujarat, India. He is known for translating works of Jules Verne in Gujarati. Biography Mulshankar Bhatt was born on 25 June ...

has collected his best of the character sketches and published as ''Dharati Ni Arati'' (1977). In it, he has sketched the character of those people who had created a deep impression in his life. Some of the popular characters from it are Dhanima,

Mahadev Desai Mahadev Haribhai Desai (1 January 1892 – 15 August 1942) was an Indian independence activist, scholar and writer best remembered as Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary. He has variously been described as "Gandhi's Boswell, a Plato to G ...

, Vamandada and Dr. Mayadas. His philosophical essay collections include ''Isunu Balidan'' (1922), ''Ishopnishad'', ''Ishubhagwat'' (1977), ''Lokgeeta'', ''Navla Darshan Ane Bija Lekho'' (1968), ''Manavtana Veri'' (1966), ''Anant Kala'' (1967), ''Atamna Mool'' (1967), ''Sarvoday Vicharana'' (co-written). His ''Anant Kala'' is a meditation on nature and spirituality, while his writing also covers the

Upanishads The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...

and the Sarvodaya Movement extensively. These essays share views on religion and society based on the concept of ''

Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava ''Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava'' is a concept embodying the equality of the destination of the paths followed by all religions (although the paths themselves may be different). The concept was embraced by Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar (she built ''masjid ...

'' which he had embraced. He also produced travelogues based on his travels in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

which were published in ''Prasthan'' magazine between 1954 and 1960 and posthumously published in ''Uttarapathni Yatra'' and ''Baraf Raste Badrinath'' (1980). His translation of Sven Hedin's travel writing as ''Asiana Bhraman Ane Sanshodhan'' in Gujarati, was also published posthumously in 1979. ''Bachpanna Bar Varsh'' (1982) is his incomplete autobiographical work. ''Juni Moodi'' (1980) is a collection of proverbs and idioms. Some of his other works include ''Ambavadiyun'' and ''Amaratvel'' and a compilation of correspondence between him and Gandhi's colleagues are contained in the ''Ugamani Dishano Ujas'' and ''Dhodhamar'', all edited by

Dinkar Joshi Dinkar Joshi is a Gujarati language author from India. He has written more than 160 books including novels, short story collections, essay collections and columns. Life Dinkar Joshi was born on 30 June 1937 in Bhadi Bhandaria village of Bhavnag ...

. A biography of Swami Anand was written by

Chandrakant Sheth Chandrakant Sheth (born 3 February 1938) is a Gujarati poet, essayist, critic, translator and compiler from Gujarat, India. His pen names include Aryaputra, Nand Samavedi, Balchadra and Daksh Prajapati. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujar ...

and he is the central character in

Sujata Bhatt Sujata Bhatt (born 6 May 1956) is an Indian poet. Life and career Sujata Bhatt was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and brought up in Pune until 1968, when she immigrated to United States with her family. She has an MFA from the University of Iowa, a ...

's poem, "Point No Point".

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anand, Swami Gandhians 1887 births 1976 deaths Writers from Mumbai Monks of the Ramakrishna Mission Indian magazine editors Gujarati-language writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Gujarati Indian Hindu monks People from Surendranagar district Journalists from Gujarat 20th-century Indian journalists Indian biographers Indian autobiographers Indian travel writers 20th-century Indian philosophers Indian translators Indian independence activists from Gujarat 20th-century translators Missionary linguists