->Kahlo Woolf at 21:41, 8 December 2021

2021-12-08T21:41:08Z

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{{short description|Reformist, social activist, freedom-fighter and educator and writer of India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hansa Jivraj Mehta
| image = HansaJivrajMehtaPic.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|07|03|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Baroda state]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|04|04|1897|07|03|df=y}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| father = [[Manubhai Mehta]]
| spouse = [[Jivraj Narayan Mehta]]
}}
'''Hansa Jivraj Mehta''' (3 July 1897 – 4 April 1995)<ref name="Gujarati Vishwakosh">{{cite book |last=Trivedi |first=Shraddha |title=Gujarati Vishwakosh (Gujarati Encyclopedia) |volume=Vol. 15 |year=2002 |location=Ahmedabad |publisher=[[Gujarati Vishwakosh|Gujarati Vishwakosh Trust]] |page=540 |oclc=248968453}}</ref> was a reformist, social activist, educator, independence activist, feminist and writer from [[India]].<ref name=c>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/gandhispassionli00wolp|url-access=registration|title=Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi|first=Stanley|last=Wolpert|page=[https://archive.org/details/gandhispassionli00wolp/page/149 149]|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=5 April 2001|isbn=9780199923922}}</ref><ref name=a>{{cite book|title=Women Role Models: Some Eminent Women of Contemporary India|first=Gouri|last=Srivastava|year=2006|pages=14–16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kfs4Cns3nJIC|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=9788180693366}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Hansa Mehta was born in a [[Nagar Brahmin]] family on 3 July 1897. She was a daughter of [[Manubhai Mehta]], Dewan of [[Baroda State]], and the granddaughter of [[Nandshankar Mehta]], the author of the first Gujarati novel ''[[Karan Ghelo]]''.<ref name="Gujarati Vishwakosh"/><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/gender/hansa-jivraj-mehta-freedom-fighter-reformer-india-has-a-lot-to-thank-her-for-5034322/|title=Hansa Jivraj Mehta: Freedom fighter, reformer; India has a lot to thank her for|date=2018-01-22|work=The Indian Express|access-date=2018-08-23|language=en-US}}</ref>

She graduated with Philosophy in 1918. She studied journalism and sociology in England. In 1918, she met [[Sarojini Naidu]] and later [[Mahatma Gandhi]] in 1922.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

She was married to [[Jivraj Narayan Mehta]], an eminent [[physician]] and [[Administrator of the Government|administrator]] who was the first [[Chief Minister of Gujarat]].

== Career ==

=== Politics, education and activism ===
Hansa Mehta organized the picketing of shops selling foreign clothes and liquor, and participated in other freedom movement activities in line with the advice of [[Mahatma Gandhi]]. She was even arrested and sent to jail by the [[British Raj|British]] along with her husband in 1932. Later she was elected to [[Bombay Legislative Council]].<ref name="c" />

After independence, she was among the 15 women who were part of the [[Constituent Assembly of India|constituent assembly]] that drafted the [[Indian Constitution]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/dLi6ZIdW6CgswZCGdOA9VM/The-women-who-helped-draft-our-constitution.html|title=The women who helped draft our constitution|last=Ravichandran|first=Priyadarshini|date=13 March 2016|work=Mint|access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> She was a member of the Advisory Committee and Sub Committee on Fundamental Rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cadindia.clpr.org.in/constituent_assembly_members/hansa_jivraj_mehta|title=CADIndia|website=cadindia.clpr.org.in|access-date=2018-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331155544/http://cadindia.clpr.org.in/constituent_assembly_members/hansa_jivraj_mehta|archive-date=31 March 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> She advocated for equality and justice for women in India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cadindia.clpr.org.in/search|title=CADIndia|website=cadindia.clpr.org.in|access-date=2018-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425030845/https://cadindia.clpr.org.in/search|archive-date=25 April 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/denial-of-rights/article8523523.ece|title=Denial of rights|last=RAJU|first=M. P.|website=Frontline|language=en|access-date=2019-12-14}}</ref>

Hansa was elected to Bombay Schools Committee in 1926 and became president of [[All India Women's Conference]] in 1945–46. In her presidential address at the All India Women's Conference convention held in [[Hyderabad]], she proposed a Charter of Women's Rights. She held different posts in India from 1945 to 1960 - the vice-chancellor of [[SNDT Women's University]], member of All India Secondary Board of Education, president of Inter University Board of India and vice-chancellor of [[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]],<ref name=":1" /> among others.

Hansa represented India on the Nuclear Sub-Committee on the status of women in 1946. As the Indian delegate on the [[UN Human Rights Commission]] in 1947–48, she was responsible for changing the language of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] from "[[all men are created equal]]" to "all human beings",<ref>{{cite book|last=Jain|first=Devaki|title=Women, Development and the UN|url=https://archive.org/details/womendevelopment00jain|url-access=limited|year=2005|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|page=[https://archive.org/details/womendevelopment00jain/page/n46 20]}}</ref> highlighting the need for [[gender equality]].<ref>http://www.un.int/india/india%20&%20un/humanrights.pdf {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112084212/http://www.un.int/india/india%20%26%20un/humanrights.pdf |date=12 January 2014 }}</ref> Hansa later went on to become the vice chairman of the [[Human Rights Commission of the United Nations]] in 1950. She was also a member of the Executive Board of [[UNESCO]].<ref name=a/><ref>{{cite book|title=Contemporary art in Baroda|year=1997|page=267|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jL6fAAAAMAAJ|first=Belinder|last=Dhanoa|publisher=Tulika|isbn=9788185229041}}</ref>

=== Literary career ===
She wrote several children's books in [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] including ''Arunnu Adbhut Swapna'' (1934), ''Bablana Parakramo'' (1929), ''Balvartavali'' Part 1-2 (1926, 1929). She translated some books of ''[[Valmiki]] [[Ramayana]]'': [[Araṇya-Kāṇḍa|Aranyakanda]], [[Balakanda]] and [[Sundara Kanda|Sundarakanda]]. She translated many English stories, including ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]''. She had also adapted some plays of [[Shakespeare]]. Her essays were collected and published as ''Ketlak Lekho'' (1978).<ref name="c" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=વીસમી સદીનું ગુજરાતી નારીલેખન|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|year=2005|isbn=8126020350|editor-last=Chaudhari|editor-first=Raghuveer|editor-link=Raghuveer Chaudhari|edition=1st|location=New Delhi|pages=350|language=gu|trans-title=20 Century Women's Writing's in Gujarati|chapter=લેખિકા-પરિચય|trans-chapter=Introduction of Women Writers|oclc=70200087|editor-last2=Dalal|editor-first2=Anila|editor-link2=Anila Dalal}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==

'''In Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil'''

* ''Traṇa nāṭako''. (1926). Mumbaī : Haṃsā Mhetā {{oclc|41051797}}
* Mehta, Hansa; Swift, Jonathan. ''Goḷībāranī musāpharī''. Vaḍodarā : Bālajīvana Kāryālaya (1931) {{oclc|38143737}}
* ''Rukmiṇī''. (1933). Vaḍodarā : Ārya Sudhāraka Presa {{oclc|38146975}} {{in lang|gu}}
* ''Aruṇanuṃ adbhuta svapna''. (1934). Mumbaī : Haṃsā Mahetā {{oclc|34302217}}
** Mehta, S. Haṅsa. (1950). ''Arunnanu adbhuta svapṅa''. Ahmedabad, India : Gujar Granth Ratna Karyalaya {{oclc|798280350}}
* ''Bāḷavārtāvali'' [Bacchanal]. (1939). Mumbaī : Sola ejaṇṭa, Śishṭa Sāhitya Bhaṇḍāra {{oclc|37520092}}
* ''Himālaya svarūpa ane bījaṃ nāṭako''. Śishṭa.
* Mehta, Hansa. ''Trana natako ane bijam'' [Three plays and so on]. (1956). {{oclc|83589713}}
* Mehta, Hansa; Cimanalāla, Candravadana; Sitāṃśu, Yaśaścandra. ''Keṭalāka lekha''. Mumbaī : Phārbasa Gujarātī Sabhā (1977) {{oclc|40562864}}
* Mehta, Hansa; Collodi, Carlo. ''Bavlana prakramo'' [Brave feats] Rajkot : Pravin Rajkot (1993) {{oclc|59900007}}
* Mehta, Hansa. ''Ram Katha''. [The story of Ram] (1993). Delhi : National Book Trust. {{oclc|60101616}} {{in lang|hi}}
* Mehta, Hansa. ''Ayotiyin iḷavarasan''. (2004). Delhi : National Book Trust. {{ISBN|978-81-237-4211-3}} {{oclc|226217889}} {{in lang|ta}}

'''In English'''

* ''Post-war educational reconstruction: with special reference to women's education in India''. (----) Bombay : Pratibha {{oclc|48328021}}
* ''The Woman under the Hindu Law of Marriage & Succession''. (1944). p. 52, Bombay : Pratibha Publications. {{oclc|752614477}}
* Hansa, Mehta. (ed.) "Civil liberties". (1945). for the ''All-India Women's Conference'', Aundh : Aundh Pub. Trust, {{oclc|62614613}}
* ''Indian woman''. (1981). New Delhi : Butala {{oclc|987877729}} {{in lang|en}}

===Translation===
'''into English'''

* King of Ujjainī; VIKRAMĀDITYA Haṃsā; Mehta, Hansa. ''The Adventures of King Vikrama''. (Selections from Ṣāmala Bhaṭa's Gujarati version of Siṃhāsana-batrīsī. With plates.) (1948). Bombay : Oxford University Press, pp.vii, 150. {{oclc|503783112}}
** Mehta, Hansa; Shukla, V. K. ''Adventures of King Vikrama''. (1954) London : Oxford Univ. Press, {{oclc|551829319}}
* Sarma, D.S.; Mehta, Hansa. ''The prince of Ayodhya''. New Delhi : National Book Trust, India : Chief stockists in India, Thomson Press (India) (1974). {{oclc|7609419}} {{in lang|en}}
* ''Une femme d'aujourd'hui: roman''. (1966). Paris : Albin Michel. {{oclc|58992586}} {{in lang|fr}}

==Awards==
Hansa Mehta was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]] in 1959.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.indianautographs.com/productdetail-125454.html | title=Hansa Jivraj Mehta | publisher=Praful Thakkar's Thematic Gallery of Indian Autographs | access-date=19 June 2016 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Gujarati-language writers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1954–59}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Hansa Jivraj}}
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:Gujarati-language writers]]
[[Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of India]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in social work]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:People from Vadodara]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:Activists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Women educators from Chandigarh]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:Women educators from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:Educators from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Educators from Chandigarh]]
[[Category:Indian translators]]
[[Category:Indian children's writers]]
[[Category:20th-century translators]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]

Hansa Jivraj Mehta - Revision history

->Kahlo Woolf at 21:41, 8 December 2021