RAJKOT: No spear, no knife, no guns, no cannon; Your army is very strong without any arms, Baniya
This is a couplet (translated from Gujarati) taken from a verse that had been penned exclusively to praise Gandhi during the freedom struggle. The author, Bhudharji Joshi, a poet who died in 1966, had penned the dohas and songs on the works and illustrious life of Bapu.
While, biographies of Mahatma Gandhi abound in multiple languages, very few may know that the life of the Father of the nation had been composed in Kathiyawadi dialect as folk dohas, chands and songs.
Sairam Dave, a Rajkot-based folk artiste, collected these manuscripts of dohas and songs by poet Joshi and compiled it in the form of a book, which is set to be launched on Monday.
Joshi, a native of Rana Kandorna of Porbandar district, had started writing about Gandhi’s life in the folk dialect since 1935 and while it smacks of Gandhi’s struggle against the British Raj, the works revolved mainly around the protagonist, Manohardas Karamchand Gandhi, said Dave.
Joshi’s dohas, which used to get published in a local magazine called ‘Sharda’, touched upon subjects like Quit India movement, second World War and many others issues related to India’s freedom struggle.
“This literature was almost buried. The poet’s dohas are so popular even today that folk artistes sing these on stage during Dayro. Joshi immortalized his works, but he himself perished into oblivion,” Dave said.
Dave contacted Joshi’s nephews and found the manuscripts in their home. “Joshi was a true Gandhian and was distressed after the assassination of Mahatma. He, however, continued writing till the time of his death,” Dave added.