Ramanlal Pitambardas Soni (25 January 1908 – 20 September 2006), also known by his pen name Sudamo, was a children's writer, translator, and social worker from

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 lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India. He authored primarily in

Gujarati language Gujarati ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old Western Rājasthāni, Old Gujarati (). In India, it is one of the 22 Languages with ...

Biography

He was born on 25 January 1908 in Kokapur near

Modasa Modasa is a town and a municipality in Aravalli district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The town became the headquarters of the new Aravalli district, carved out from Sabarkantha, on 15 August 2013. It is an economic centre for agricultu ...

in north Gujarat. He completed his school education in Modasa. In 1940, he completed a BA from

Agra University Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, formerly Agra University, is an Autonomous University located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university, formerly named as Agra University, was later named after Bhimrao Ambedkar. Affiliated colleges The U ...

. He came back to Modasa and joined Modasa high school as a principal. He left a job in 1945 to be involved in social work. He went to

Yerwada Central Jail Yerwada Central Jail is a noted high-security prison in Yerwada, Pune in Maharashtra. This is the largest prison in the state of Maharashtra, and also one of the largest prisons in South Asia, housing over 5,000 prisoners (2017) spread over va ...

during

satyagraha Satyāgraha (from ; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practises satyagraha is ...

movement in 1932 where he learned

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

. Later, he served as a member of the legislative assembly of

Bombay state Bombay State was a large Indian state created in 1950 from the erstwhile Bombay Province, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Province (in British India roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Mah ...

from 1952 to 1957. He was married to Rasikbala Soni and had three children. Dr Shriram, Jayram and Pratima. Doctor by profession, his eldest son Shriram is married to anesthesiologist and renowned

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

- Odiya translator Dr Renuka Soni. He died on 20 September 2006 at

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 ...

Works

He wrote original as well as translated and adapted children's literature. He wrote stories, poems, rhymes, plays, and biographies for them. Many of his stories and poems were published in the Zagmag column of

Gujarat Samachar The ''Gujarat Samachar'' is the leading Gujarati-language daily newspaper published in India. Its headquarters are in Ahmedabad with a branch in Surat. It is distributed from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Mumbai, Mehsana, Bh ...

in the 1990s. His autobiography titled ''Rakh nu Pankhi'' was published in 1999. He translated Bengali literature into Gujarati. Some notable works include ''Gora'', '' Chokher Bali'', ''

Rajarshi Rajarshi () is a title in Hinduism and Hindu mythology, referring to a sage who hails from a royal background. Description A rajarshi may be described to be a king (raja) who adopted a path of devotion, thereby becoming a royal sage (rishi). A ...

'' by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

; ''

Shrikant Shrikant is a male Indian given name. People with the name *Shrikant Bhasi (born 1968), Indian businessman *Shrikant Jadhav (born 1960), Indian cricketer *Shrikant Jichkar (1954–2004), Indian politician *Shrikant Joshi (born 1958), Indian busin ...

'' by

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (anglicised as Sarat Chandra Chatterjee; 15 September 1876 – 16 January 1938) was a Bengali novelist and short story writer of the early 20th century. He generally wrote about the lives of Bengali family and socie ...

. He also translated works of

Tarashankar Bandopadhyay Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (23 July 1898 – 14 September 1971) was an Indian novelist who wrote in the Bengali language. He wrote 65 novels, 53-story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies, 2 travel stories and composed several songs. ...

and

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay (26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891), popularly known as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (), was an Indian educator and social reformer of the nineteenth century. His efforts to simplify and modernise Bengali language, Ben ...

Awards

He was awarded

Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, also known as the Ranjitram Gold Medal, was founded by Gujarat Sahitya Sabha and is considered the highest literary award in Gujarati literature. The award is named after renowned Gujarati writer Ranjitram Mehta. It is a ...

, the highest literary award in the Gujarati language, in 1996. He also received Gujarat Gaurav Puraskar by the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soni, Ramanlal 1908 births 2006 deaths Gujarati-language writers Gujarat politicians People from Sabarkantha district Recipients of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Bombay State MLAs 1952–1957 Indian translators Indian children's writers Indian autobiographers Translators to Gujarati 20th-century Indian translators

Biography

Works

Awards

See also

References