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{{Short description|Indian actor and director (1889–1975)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jaishankar Bhojak 'Sundari'
| image =Mama Warerkar-CG Kolhatkar-Jaishankar Sundari-1957.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Jaishankar Sundari (right) in conversation with [[Bhargavram Vitthal Warerkar|Mama Warerkar]] (left) and [[Chintaman Ganesh Kolhatkar|C. G. Kolhatkar]] (centre) at the presentation of [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] Awards in New Delhi on 31 March 1957
| birth_name = Jaishankar Bhudhardas Bhojak
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1889|1|30}}
| birth_place = Undhai near [[Visnagar]], Gujarat
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1975|1|22|1889|1|30}}
| death_place = [[Visnagar]]
| other_names = Jaishankar Sundari
| occupation = Theatre actor and director
| known_for = [[Saubhagya Sundari]] (1901)
| years_active = 1897 – 1932 (acting), 1948 – 1964 (direction)
}}

'''Jaishankar Bhudhardas Bhojak''', (30 January 1889 – 22 January 1975) better known by his theatre name '''Jaishankar Sundari''', was an Indian actor and director of [[Gujarati theatre]]. Starting at the young age, he rose to fame for his roles of female impersonator in early Gujarati plays. He retired from acting in 1932 but returned to theatre direction and teaching in 1948. He directed and acted in several successful plays. He was awarded the [[Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak]] in 1951 and the [[Padma Vibhushan]] in 1971.

==Early life==
He was born in the family of [[Bhojak]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The People of India By Herbert Risley, William Crooke|page=457|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QA2OKK0-bdcC&q=BHOJAK+&pg=PA457|access-date=27 August 2014|isbn=9788120612655|last1=Risley|first1=Herbert|last2=Crooke|first2=William|year=1999|publisher=Asian Educational Services }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Tribes and Castes of Bombay, Volume 1 By Reginald E. Enthoven|pages=219–220|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FoT6gPrbTp8C&q=BHOJAK+CASTE&pg=PA220|access-date=27 August 2014|isbn=9788120606302|last1=Enthoven|first1=Reginald Edward|year=1990|publisher=Asian Educational Services }}</ref> in Undhai near [[Visnagar]] on 30 January 1889 to Bhudhardas and Krishna. However, his family members were traditionally involved in performing arts and singing. He studied up to second standard. He was trained in performing arts and singing by his grandfather, Tribhuvandas who himself was trained by Ustad Fakhruddin. He was also trained in music by Pandit Vadilal Nayak.<ref name=gsp>{{cite web|url=http://www.gujaratisahityaparishad.com/prakashan/photo-gallery/sahitya-sarjako/Jayshankar-Sundari.html|work=[[Gujarati Sahitya Parishad]] |title=Jaishankar 'Sundari'|language =gu|access-date =20 July 2014}}</ref><ref name="ox">{{cite book|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001/acref-9780195644463-e-0657|title=The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre|last=Lal|first=Ananda|publisher=[[Oxford University]] Press|year=2004|isbn=9780195644463|via=Oxford Reference|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001}}</ref>
His father conducted rituals and performed in Jain temples.<ref>Stages of Life, Indian Theatre Autobiographies,
Kathryn Hansen, 2013, p. 171]</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Bapulal Nayak and Jaishankar Bhojak Sundari in the play Kamlata, at Gaiety Theatre, Mumbai, 1904.jpg|thumb|Bapulal Nayak (left) and Jaishankar Bhojak 'Sundari' in the play ''Kamlata'', at Gaiety Theatre, Bombay, 1904|left]]
[[File:Bapulal Nayak and Jaishankar Bhojak Sundari in a play Sneh-Sarita in 1915.jpg|thumb|[[Bapulal Nayak]] (left) and Jaishankar Bhojak 'Sundari' in a play ''Sneh-Sarita'', 1915]]

He started his career by joining Dadabhai Thunthi's Urdu performing art company in [[Calcutta]] in 1897. He worked in a chorus of girls for a salary of six rupees a month.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Kathryn|date=1999|title=Making Women Visible: Gender and Race Cross-Dressing in the Parsi Theatre|journal=Theatre Journal|volume=51|issue=2|pages=134–135|doi=10.1353/tj.1999.0031|jstor=25068647|s2cid=192100757}}</ref> He returned to [[Mumbai|Bombay]] and joined Chotalal Kapadia's [[Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali]] in 1901. Along with Gujarati, he also performed in Hindi and Urdu languages. He mainly performed as a female impersonator as females were not allowed in theatres in those times.<ref name=gsp/><ref name=ox/> He played role of [[Desdemona]] as a female impersonator in ''[[Saubhagya Sundari]]'', an adaptation of [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Othello]]'' by Parsi theatre in Bombay. It was successful and Jaishankar received his sobriquet ''Sundari'' ({{lit|beautiful lady}}).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tvV_A-ayyZUC&q=jaishankar+sundari&pg=PA50|title=India's Shakespeare: Translation, Interpretation, and Performance|first=Dennis Bartholomeusz|last=Poonam Trivedi|publisher=Pearson Education India|year=2005|isbn=9788177581317|page=50}}</ref><ref name="MalhotraLambert-Hurley2015">{{cite book|author1=Anshu Malhotra|author2=Siobhan Lambert-Hurley|title=Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdvDCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT245|date=12 October 2015|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-7497-8|pages=245}}</ref> He performed female lead opposite [[Bapulal Nayak]] several times including in ''Jugal Jugari'' (Jugal the Gambler), ''Kamlata'' (Lovestruck Girl, 1904), ''Madhu Bansari'' (Sweet Flute) and ''Sneh Sarita'' (River of Affection), ''Vikrama Charitra'' (Vikrama's Life, 1902). He along with Bapulal brought [[Govardhanram Tripathi]]'s ''[[Saraswatichandra (novel)|Saraswatichandra]]'', Nrisinh Vibhakar's nationalistic plays and plays of [[Mulshankar Mulani]] to stage. He retired in 1932 and returned to Visnagar.<ref name=gsp/><ref name=ox/><ref name=":0" /> In ''Vikrama Charitra'', he played a character of Rambha, a dairy-maid. This play continued for three years and was performed 160 times, on every Saturday night.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Kathryn|title=Stri Bhumika Female Impersonators and Actresses on the Parsi Stage|url=https://www.epw.in/journal/1998/35/special-articles/stri-bhumika-female-impersonators-and-actresses-parsi-stage.html|journal=[[Economic and Political Weekly]]|date=29 August 1998|volume=33|issue=35|page=2294|via=[[Economic and Political Weekly|EPW]]}}{{Subscription required}}</ref>

He was active in [[Ahmedabad]] from 1948 to 1964 as the director and teacher in theatre. He joined [[Gujarat Vidhya Sabha]] in 1948 in Ahmedabad to perform in [[Ramanbhai Neelkanth]]'s ''[[Raino Parvat]]'' in 1950 on the occasion of its centenary. Later he organised a performing troupe and theatre school, [[Natmandal]] with [[Rasiklal Parikh]] and [[Ganesh Mavlankar]]. He revived [[Bhavai]], the traditional performing art form, by directing ''[[Mithyabhiman]]'' (False Vanity, 1955), a satirical play by [[Dalpatram]]. They produced several plays like ''Mena Gurjari'' (Mena of Gujarat) in 1953 which he synthesized Bhavai and [[Beijing Opera]]. He trained several actors including Jaswant Thaker, [[Dina Pathak]], [[Pransukh Nayak]] and Kailash Pandya.<ref name=gsp/><ref name=ox/>

He died on 22 January 1975 at [[Visnagar]], Gujarat.<ref name=gsp/><ref name=ox/>

==Recognition==
He received the [[Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak]] in 1951; which is considered the highest literary award in Gujarati literature. In 1957, the [[President of India]] [[Rajendra Prasad]] presented him with the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists - the President's award, now called the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi award]] for drama direction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm |publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] |title=Sangeet Natak Akademi award |access-date=20 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331060603/http://www.sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm |archive-date=31 March 2016 }}</ref> In 1963, he was elected chairman for the Department of Arts at [[Gujarati Sahitya Parishad]]. He was felicitated by Gujarat Rajya Sangeet Nrutya Akademi in 1967. He was awarded [[Padma Bhushan]], the third highest civilian award, by the [[Government of India]] in 1971.<ref name=gsp/><ref name=ox/>

==Legacy==
His autobiography ''Thoda Aansu, Thoda Ful'' in Gujarati was in part written and in part dictated to his son Dinkar Bhojak and Somabhai Patel over a period of four years. It was first published posthumously in 1976. It was adopted as part of the syllabus at the Master of Arts course level at the [[Gujarat University]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bhojak Jayashankar 'Sundari'|first1=Bhojak Dinkar|title=Thoda Aansu, Thoda Ful|date= 2005|publisher=Asait Sahitya Sabha|edition=3rd}}</ref> It was reprinted in 1989 in an expanded version in the birth centenary year. In 2002, the first edition was translated into Hindi as ''Kuchh Aansu, Kuchh Phool'' by Dinesh Khanna and published by the [[National School of Drama]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Khanna|first1=Dinesh|title=Kuchh Aansu, Kuchh Phool: An autobiography of Jaishankar 'Sundari'|date=2002|publisher=Rashtriya Natya Vidhyala|location=New Delhi|edition=1st}}</ref> In 2011, it was translated in English as ''Some Blossoms, Some Tears''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/translation-as-cultural-mediation/article2602564.ece|work=The Hindu|title=Translation as cultural mediation|first=Anuradha |last=Kapoor|date=6 November 2011|access-date =20 July 2014}}</ref><ref name=a>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=142HAwAAQBAJ&q=jai+shankar+sundari&pg=PA500|pages=492, 500|title=Women of India: Colonial and Post-colonial Periods/Part 3 of History of science, philosophy, and culture in Indian civilization: Colonial period |first=Bharati|last=Ray|publisher=SAGE Publications India|year=2009|isbn=9788132102649}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hansen|first1=Kathryn|title=Stages of Life: Indian Theatre Autobiographies|date=2011|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=9780857286604|pages=170–245}}</ref>

Jaishankar Sundari Natyagruh - a drama theatre - was named after him in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.<ref>{{cite web|title=Auditoriums in Gujarat, India|url=http://www.narthaki.com/spaces/sp1c.htm|website=www.narthaki.com|access-date=30 December 2014|archive-date=1 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501053001/http://www.narthaki.com/spaces/sp1c.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Bhavai Government Museum in [[Vadnagar]], [[North Gujarat]] has an exhibition and description of his works.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Attractions|title=Bhavai Government Museum|url=http://www.gujarattourism.com/destination/details/9/89|website=Gujarat Tourism|access-date=1 December 2014|archive-date=26 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726104008/http://www.gujarattourism.com/destination/details/9/89|url-status=dead}}</ref> His oil painted portrait was unveiled by the Kala Mandal of [[Morbi]] and adorns the halls of the Kala Mandir in Saurashtra.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Panchotia|first1=B. B.|title=Jayashankar Sundari and Abhinayakala|date=1987|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|location=Bombay|edition=1st}}</ref>

A play ''Sundari : An Actor Prepares'' based on his autobiography was produced in 1998.<ref name=a/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==

;Autobiography
* {{cite book|title=Thoda Aansu, Thoda Phool|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.537585|first=Bhojak Dinkar|last=Bhojak Jaishankar|publisher=Shivji Asher, Vora & Co.|year=1976|place=Ahmedabad|language =gu}}
;Other
* {{cite book|title=Jayashankar Sundari and Abhinaykala|last=Panchotia|first=B. B. |publisher=Bhavans Book University}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Gujarati Vishwakosh}}

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1970–79}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundari, Jaishankar}}
[[Category:Indian male stage actors]]
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]
[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Indian male musical theatre actors]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:Gujarati theatre]]
[[Category:Hindi theatre]]
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mehsana district]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak]]
[[Category:Male actors from Gujarat]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male actors]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Gujarat]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male singers]]
[[Category:Female impersonators]]

Jaishankar Bhojak - Revision history

Zachary99B at 14:25, 26 April 2026