Kundanika Kapadia

Kundanika Kapadia
Kundanika Kapadia at Nandigram Ashram July 2018
Born (1927-01-11)11 January 1927
Limbdi, Gujarat, India
Occupation novelist, story writer, essayist
Language Gujarati
Nationality Indian
Notable awards Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati (1985)
Spouse
Makarand Dave
(m. 1968; d. 2005)

Kundanika Kapadia (born 11 January 1927) is a Gujarati novelist, story writer and essayist from Gujarat, India.

Life

Kundanika Kapadia was born on 11 January 1927 at Limbdi (now in Surendranagar district, Gujarat) to Narottamdas Kapadia. She completed her primary and secondary education from Godhra. She has participated in Quit India Movement in 1942. In 1948, she completed BA in History and Politics from Samaldas College, Bhavnagar affiliated with University of Bombay. She joined MA in Entire Politics from Mumbai School of Economics but could not appear in examinations. She married Gujarati poet Makarand Dave in Mumbai in 1968. She co-founded Nadigram, an ashram near Vankal village near Valsad, with him in 1985. She is known as Ishama by her Nandigram fellows. She edited Yatrik (1955-1957) and Navneet (1962-1980).[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Works

Snehdhan is her pen name. Parodh Thata Pahela (1968) is her first novel followed by Agnipipasa (1972). She wrote Sat Pagala Akashma (Seven Steps in the Sky, 1984) which won her critical acclaim and considered as her best novel which explored feminism.[1][2][3][6][8][9][10]

Her first story is Premna Ansu which won her second prize in international story competition organised by Janmabhoomi newspaper. She started writing more stories thereafter. Premna Ansu (1954) is published as her story collection. Her other story collections are Vadhu ne Vadhu Sundar (1968), Kagalni Hodi (1978), Java Daishu Tamane (1983) and Manushya Thavu (1990). Her stories explore philosophy, music and nature. Her selected stories are published as Kundanika Kapadia ni Shreshth Vartao (1987). She is influenced by Dhumketu, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Shakespeare and Ebson.[1][2][3][6]

Dwar ane Deewal (1987) and Chandra Tara Vriksh Vadal (1988) are her essay collections. Akrand ane Akrosh (1993) is her biographical work. She edited Param Samipe (1982), Zarukhe Diva (2001) and Gulal ane Gunjar. Param Samipe is her popular prayer collection.[1][2][3][6]

She translated Laura Ingalls Wilder's work as Vasant Avshe (1962). She translated Mary Ellen Chase's A Goodly Fellowship as Dilbhar Maitri (1963) and Bengali writer Rani Chand's travelogue as Purnakumbh (1977). Her other works of translation are Purusharthne Pagale (1961), Florence Scovel Shinn's The Game of Life and How to Play It as Jeevan Ek Khel (1981), Eileen Caddy's Opening The Door Within as Ughadata Dwar Anantna and Swami Rama's Living with the Himalayan Masters as Himalayana Siddha Yogi (1984).[1][2][4][6]

Awards

She has received several prizes from Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and Gujarati Sahitya Akademi. Chandra Tara Vriksh Vadal won her Gujarat Sahitya Akademi prize. She is awarded Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati in 1985 for Sat Pagala Akashma.[1][2][6][11] She received Dhanji Kanji Gandhi Suvarna Chandrak in 1984.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brahmabhatt, Prasad (2010). અર્વાચીન ગુજરાતી સાહિત્યનો ઈતિહાસ - આધુનિક અને અનુઆધુનિક યુગ (History of Modern Gujarati Literature – Modern and Postmodern Era) (in Gujarati). Ahmedabad: Parshwa Publication. pp. 252–255. ISBN 978-93-5108-247-7.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "કુન્દનિકા કાપડિયા (Kundanika Kapadia)". Gujarati Sahitya Parishad (in Gujarati). Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Susie J. Tharu; Ke Lalita (1993). Women Writing in India: The twentieth century. Feminist Press at CUNY. pp. 254–256. ISBN 978-1-55861-029-3.
  4. 1 2 3 "Nandigram : A center for Service and Sadhana". Nandigram. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  5. ↑ Neelam Kumar (1 January 2002). Our Favourite Indian Stories. Jaico Publishing House. p. 16. ISBN 978-81-7224-978-6.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kartik Chandra Dutt (1999). Who's who of Indian Writers, 1999: A-M. Sahitya Akademi. p. 567. ISBN 978-81-260-0873-5.
  7. ↑ Jane Eldridge Miller (2002). Who's who in Contemporary Women's Writing. Psychology Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-0-415-15981-4.
  8. ↑ Amar Nath Prasad (2004). New Lights on Indian Women Novelists in English. Sarup & Sons. p. 257. ISBN 978-81-7625-477-9.
  9. ↑ Mohan Lal (1992). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot. Sahitya Akademi. p. 3830. ISBN 978-81-260-1221-3.
  10. ↑ K. V. Surendran; A.R. Shukla (1 January 1999). "Kundanika Kapadia's Seven Steps in the Sky:A Voice in Argument". Indian Women Writers: Critical Perspectives. Sarup & Sons. pp. 171–175. ISBN 978-81-7625-072-6.
  11. ↑ "Sahitya Akademi Awards". Sahitya Akademi. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
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