An Account of 19th-Century Western India in Narmadashankar Dave's Autobiography

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An Account of 19th-Century Western India in Narmadashankar Dave's Autobiography
Digvijay Nikam
6 minutes ago
Originally titled 'Mari Hakikat', Narmad's autobiography was written in 1866 and is often considered the first autobiography written in Gujarati. A new English translation provides a riveting portrait of 19th-century western India.
Narmadashankar Dave. Photo: Public domain
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The 18th-century philosopher and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau, knowing that he is no monarch nor an aristocrat nor saint, begins his pioneering autobiographical account Confessions with an announcement: 'I have resolved on an enterprise which has no precedent.' With a new class of the public beginning to narrativise itself, providing a satisfying rationale for its existence became a staple of the modern autobiography. In 19th century western India, Narmadashankar Dave's equally seminal autobiography begins with a hesitation: 'That someone like me should write his own account and then publish it during his lifetime may seem inappropriate to others – I am neither pandit, nor warrior, nor religious leader, nor dhoti-clad merchant-prince.' To exonerate himself of any charges of vanity, Narmad already has a list of objectives in place for his book – but like Rousseau, his first objective is: 'It is not a practice to write about oneself. I want to start this practice.'
Originally titled Mari Hakikat, Narmad's autobiography – an account of the first 33 years of his life – was written in 1866 and is often considered the first autobiography written in Gujarati. Though, given his wish, the first complete edition of the book was not published until 1933, almost five decades after his death. Abhijit Kothari's excellent translation of the book published under the 'Chronicles' series of non-fiction translations by the Ashoka Centre for Translation and Penguin breathes new life into this portrait of a 19th-century intellectual from Gujarat.
The making of an intellectual in 19th-century western India
Born in 1833 in Surat, Narmad belonged to a Nagar Brahmin family. Over his lifetime he donned many hats including that of a poet, essayist, literary critic, reformer, lexicographer and historian. In the popular public imagination, he is celebrated as 'Kavi Narmad' for having written Jay Jay Garvi Gujarat (Hail to Thee, Glorious Gujarat), a poem delineating the sacred geography of Gujarat. The poem is now used as the state's anthem. On the other hand, for the Gujarati literary community, he is seen as the architect of modern Gujarati literature, not only for his remarkable role in shaping modern Gujarati language but also for enriching Gujarati prose by introducing genres like the essay and autobiography. My Truth is then a critical account for understanding how such a figure comes into being.
Narmadashankar Dave, translated by Abhijit Kothari
My Truth
Penguin Random House India and Ashoka Centre for Translation, 2025
Narmad writes the book in the form of notes. Each chapter, which he calls a ' Viram ' (halt), consists of a series of notes that read like diary entries. Often, they do not follow a narrative logic. Surprisingly, the first 'Viram' gives an extensive account of his Nagar Brahminical lineage which Narmad argues is not to assert any pride but to educate his fellow caste members who are often ignorant of the community's history. A large part of the book following this is dedicated to Narmad's life in the education system both as a student and a teacher.
In his introduction to the book, Kothari notes two important developments of 19th-century western India that constitute the intellectual environment for Narmad. The first is the advent of a new system of education that brought together vernacular and English language teaching. The second is the proliferation of a vernacular print culture with newspapers, periodicals, magazines and books, especially school textbooks, getting produced in Gujarati and finding circulation within an emerging reading culture consisting primarily of upper-caste Gujarati Brahmins and Parsi elites. Narmad's autobiography in many ways provides a window to the everyday life of this world of vernacular print culture. We come to know about issues of Buddhiprakash being read in his house or him submitting material to Rast Goftar and Samsherbahadur or controversies like the Maharaj Libel Case unfolding in the local newspapers.
Unmaking the 'myth' of Narmad
In public discourse, historical figures like Narmad are quickly turned into larger-than-life characters (novelist Saroj Pathak once called Narmad 'divine'). However, My Truth is a record that undoes the myth of Narmad. We learn about his nightmares as a superstitious child, his financial difficulties, his anxieties that drive him to be a poet, his failures but also his contradictions. For instance, the well-known episode of Narmad's turn to writing when he quit his job at Elphinstone School declaring: 'I came home and with tearful eyes, looked at my pen and said, 'Henceforth, I seek refuge in your lap.'' is preceded by a long period of depression at the death of his first wife and child.
In another chapter we learn that the reformer Narmad who regularly writes and speaks about avoiding adultery and intoxicants is himself not distant from these practices. The honesty in revealing these details to the public provides a blueprint for later figures like Gandhi who also interestingly titled his autobiography My Experiments with Truth.
One of the most engaging sections of the book is where we encounter Narmad's constant banters with his senior contemporary, the poet Dalpatram. On one hand, their difficult relationship is a reflection of the transformations underway in Gujarati poetry and its modes of patronage; and on the other, it is a story of aspiration and envy between two generations of writers. It is here that we witness Kothari's strength as a translator. He retains the simplicity and the informal quality of Narmad's prose. As readers we soon get used to the rhythm of the autobiography despite its absence of a narrative form.
Yet it is essential to remember that My Truth is only a partial account of Narmad's life which was to take severe turns going forward. The reader would not know that the reformer (or ' sudharak ' as they say in Gujarati) who had advocated for a 'radical' transformation of Hindu society through 'reason' and 'justice' was to turn conservative by the end of his life, becoming an enthusiast of traditional caste and religious practices. For that we would need another translation, perhaps from Kothari – that of the Uttar Narmad Charitra, a compilation of Narmad's letters and notes from the last two decades of his life that was done by Natwarlal Desai in 1939. But that can wait. For now, we can immerse ourselves in this riveting portrait of 19th-century western India that Kothari's translation has made possible.
Digvijay Nikam is a PhD student at the Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. His work deals with modernist print culture from western India.
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