Mulshankar Harinand Mulani (1 November 1867 – 14 December 1957) was a Gujarati playwright from the

Gujarati theatre Gujarati theatre refers to theatre performed in the Gujarati language, including its Gujarati language#Dialects, dialects. Gujarati theatre is produced mainly in Gujarat and Maharashtra, in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda, Surat and els ...

of India. After working as a village development officer and as an editor with a weekly newspaper, he joined the

Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali Gujarati Natak Mandali (1878–89) and its successor Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali (1889–1948) was a theatre company in Bombay, British India. It made immense contribution to the Gujarati theatre, with productions of more than hundred plays, a ...

, a theatre company, where he worked as a playwright for decades. He wrote more than fifty plays on social, mythological and historical subjects including commercially or critically successful plays like ''Rajbeej'' (1891), ''Ajabkumari'' (1899, 1912), '' Saubhagya Sundari'' (1901), ''Nandbatrisi'' (1906) and ''Krishnacharitra'' (1906).

Early life

He was born on 1 November 1867 in Chavand (now in

Amreli district Amreli district is one of the 33 administrative districts of the state of Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which ...

, Gujarat, India) to the religious Prashnora

Nagar Brahmin Nagar Brahmin is a Brahmin subcaste from the Indian state of Gujarat. Author T. Sasaki writes, amongst Brahmins of Gujarat, Nagar Brahmins were the most prominent subdivision in the political, economic and social relation, social activities o ...

family of Harinand Dayanad and Mankunwar. He was a descendant of Mula Bhatt who had served as a minister of

Nawanagar State Nawanagar was an Indian state and then a princely state in the historical Halar region, located on the southern shores of the Gulf of Kutch. It was ruled by the Jadeja Rajput dynasty and became a part of newly formed India. Its capital cit ...

before 10 or 12 generations. He studied until the fourth standard in English medium in

Junagadh Junagadh () is the city and headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar (the state capital), it is the seventh largest city in the state. It i ...

and had read religious works and Sanskrit books at his home, later going on to study with a Sanskrit scholar for some time. Mulani started a job as a village development officer in Dhari, for a salary of ten rupees, but subsequently left to go to

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

(now Mumbai). After a period of struggles, he joined a weekly ''Satyavakta'' as a

proofreader Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place co ...

for a salary of twenty rupees. He covered true stories in his column, Ghanghata and became popular. Later he served as an editor of the weekly.

Theatre career

Mulani met Prabhurai Popatlal, who offered him a job as a play editor in the

, a theatre company, for a salary of five rupees. He transcribed copies of the plays also. Eventually, he left the ''Satyavakta'' and his salary rose to thirty rupees. His first play ''Shakuntal'' (1889) and his second play ''Rajbeej'' (1891) starring Bapulal Nayak were performed in the Geity Theatre and were commercially successful. It was followed by ''Kundbala'' (1892) and ''Mansinh Abhaysinh'' (1893). ''Kundbala'' depicted a relationship between a princely state and the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. Following it, the censorship by the British authorities was instituted. His health deteriorated and he returned to his native village where he wrote his successful plays, ''Mularaj Solanki'' (1895) and ''Karanghelo'' (1896, based on Nandshankar Mehta's ''Karanghelo''). His salary rose to 35 rupees. After studying

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and

Kalidasa Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviv ...

, he wrote ''Barrister'' (1897), which was a play about a youth who was devastated due to his attraction to the

western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

. It became successful and his salary rose to 75 rupees. Later he was made a partner in the company. Mulani introduced

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

to the Gujarati theatre. His ''Jayraj'' (1898) and ''Ajabkumari'' (1899) were not initially successful, due to the occurrence of plague in Bombay. They however, became hits when they were performed again in 1912–13. ''Ajabkumari'' was praised by scholars like Govardhanram Tripathi but the audience did not like it. Although the financial condition of the company had deteriorated, his ''Vikramcharitra'' (1900), based on Shamal Bhatt's ''Sinhasan Batrisi'', became a commercial hit and helped the company recover. He demanded his pending sum of 28,000 rupees with the company, but received only 10,000 rupees. Feeling hurt, he left the company. His contract terms, however, prohibited him from writing plays for other companies for another ten years. He subsequently founded the Kathiyawadi Natak Mandali in 1906 in the name of his son-in-law, Vishwanath Madhavji Bhatt. Viththaldas Bhojak and Bapulal Punjiram Nayak were its director and musician respectively. He rejoined Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali when Nathuram Shukla requested him to rewrite ''Saubhagyasundari'', which had failed to impress the owners and the director of the company. He rewrote the play and it premiered on 19 October 1901. Starring Bapulal Nayak and

Jaishankar Bhojak Jaishankar Bhudhardas Bhojak, (30 January 1889 – 22 January 1975) better known by his theatre name Jaishankar Sundari, was an Indian actor and director of Gujarati theatre. Starting at the young age, he rose to fame for his roles of female imp ...

in lead roles as well as Mohanlala in the role of Madhav, the play became a major success and Jaishankar became known for his female impersonator role of Sundari. The pairing of Bapulal Nayak and Jaishankar Sundari became popular with the audience and they starred together in many plays later on. Prabhashankar 'Ramani' acted in his several plays and rose to fame. ''Jugal Jugari'' (1902) was his social play. Kathiyawadi Natak Mandali produced his ''Krishnacharitra'' (1906) which brought

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

, for the first time, on the Gujarati stage. Devotional in nature, it was based on stories from the ''Bhagavata'', depicting the relationship between Krishna and Gopi. His plays influenced Urdu as well as Marathi plays. He had written ''Veermandal'' in just a day. In addition, he had written scripts for films. In debt in 1909, he sold Kathiyawadi Natak Mandali, and in 1915, he left the Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali. His ''Ek Ja Bhool'' (1919), written for Royal Natak Mandali, had a discussion on a

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

in its script. In 1920s, he worked with Aryasubodh Gujarati Natak Mandali. After retirement, he lived in

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

and

Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city and the headquarters of Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Gohil. It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state before it was merged into the Dominion ...

. He died on 14 December 1957.

Works

Bapulal Nayak ane Jaishankar Sundari in 1901

Bapulal Nayak Dayashankar Oza and Mohan Marwadi

Mulani was one of the prominent playwrights of the old Gujarati theatre. He had written more than fifty plays on social, mythological and historical subjects; about twenty eight staged, four not staged and fourteen adapted plays. His popular plays include ''Rajbeej'' (1891), ''Ajabkumari'' (1899, 1912), ''Saubhagyasundari'' (1901), ''Nandbatrisi'' (1906) and ''Krishnacharitra'' (1906). ''Krishnacharitra'' and ''Devkanya'' are published as books. His ''Porus Sikandar'' is published but never performed on the stage. He wrote and composed songs for musical plays with help of his knowledge of folk-tunes and metres before writing plays. His songs for ''Kulin Kanta'' became popular. His plays depict the most noticeable features of old Gujarati theatre, including the technique of setting, music and acting, and the theme of triumph of good over evil was central in his plays. He drew inspiration from historical or mythological episodes and wove it in the contemporary events. His plays also focused on the conflicts arising from the human relations.

Recognition

He was felicitated by the Bhavnagar Sahitya Sabha in 1944 and the

Gujarat Sahitya Sabha Gujarat Sahitya Sabha, originally called the Social and Literary Association is a literary institution for the promotion of Gujarati literature located in the city of Ahmedabad, India. It was founded by Ranjitram Vavabhai Mehta in 1898. Its name ...

in 1946 in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled 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 ...

during the Rang Parishad, a theatre conference session. He was honoured in Bhangwadi Theatre, Bombay on 14 December 1948 and was awarded

rupees Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Afr ...

1,50,000. Jaishankar Bhojak 'Sundari' had considered him the

of Gujarat. Dinesh H. Bhatt has written a doctoral thesis on his life and works in 1966.

References

External links