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{{Short description|Gujarati educationist and biographer (1829–1891)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Mahipatram Rupram Nilkanth
| embed =
| honorific_prefix = [[Rai Sahib|Rao Saheb]]
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]
| image = Mahipatram Rupram Nilkanth.jpg
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| native_name =
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1829|12|03}}
| birth_place = [[Surat]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1891|05|30|1829|12|03}}
| death_place = [[Ahmedabad]]
| resting_place =
| occupation = Educationist, reformer, novelist and biographer
| language = [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]
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| notableworks = ''Englandni Musafarinu Varnan'' (1862)
| spouse = Parvatikunwar
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| children = [[Ramanbhai Nilkanth]]
| relatives = [[Pico Iyer]] (great-great-great grandson)
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| website = {{URL|http://mahipatram.org/}}{{dead link|date=June 2022}}
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}}
'''Mahipatram Rupram Nilkanth''' was a [[Gujarati people|Gujarati]] educationist, reformer, novelist and biographer from 19th-century India.

==Life==
He was born in [[Surat]] on 3 December 1829 to Vadnagara Nagar Brahmin family of Rupram Nilkanth and Girijagauri. He lost his mother when he was one and half years old. He was engaged, when four years old, to three years old girl Parvatikunwar. He completed elementary education of local 'village school' in Gopipura, [[Surat]] known as Pranshankar Mehtaji's school. Later he joined Government English school. During his school days, he was influenced by his teachers and reformers [[Durgaram Mehta]] and [[Dadoba Pandurang]], brother of [[Atmaram Pandurang]] who founded [[Prarthana Samaj]]. He also attended weekly meetings of [[Manav Dharma Sabha]] run by them.<ref name="Raval2002"/><ref name="GSP"/>

Later he joined his alma mater as an associated teacher in 1851. In 1852, he joined Highschool department of [[Elphinstone College|Elphinstone Institute]], [[Bombay]] and was appointed an assistant teacher in 1854. He was closely associated with reformist organisations; Gyan Prasarak Sabha and Buddhivardhak Sabha in Bombay. He was later appointed an acting headmaster at the Ahmedabad High School in 1857 and later made a deputy education inspector there. In 1859, he was appointed a member of school textbooks committee, the textbooks known by [[Theodore Hope|T. C. Hope]]'s name as ''Hope Series'', and was sent to [[England]] on 27 March 1860 to experience training colleges by Education Department. After returning on 13 April 1861, he served as a principal of P. R. Training College in Ahmedabad until his retirement. He was excommunicated from community for twelve years by his Nagar Brahmin community for crossing the sea. He was not even allowed to perform last rites of his father. He had to seek compromise and went to several rituals to enter his community again.<ref name="Raval2002">{{cite book|url=http://www.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/5396|title=Mahipatram|author=Raval|first=R. L.|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|year=2002|isbn=978-81-260-1265-7|location=Mumbai|pages=1–64}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="GSP">{{cite web | title=મહીપતરામ નીલકંઠ (Mahipatram Nilkanth) | website=[[Gujarati Sahitya Parishad]] | url=http://gujaratisahityaparishad.com/prakashan/sarjako/savishesh/Savishesh-Mahipatram-Nilkanth.html | language=gu | accessdate=20 February 2017 | archive-date=9 November 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109070146/http://www.gujaratisahityaparishad.com/prakashan/sarjako/savishesh/Savishesh-Mahipatram-Nilkanth.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="John 2013">{{cite web | last=John | first=Paul | title=Mahipatram crossed the seas and paid the price | website=The Times of India | date=25 November 2013 | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Mahipatram-crossed-the-seas-and-paid-the-price/articleshow/26330658.cms | accessdate=20 February 2017 | archive-date=28 April 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428220426/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Mahipatram-crossed-the-seas-and-paid-the-price/articleshow/26330658.cms | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Johnb 2013">{{cite web | last=John | first=Paul | title=The itchy feet gene | website=The Times of India | date=8 December 2013 | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/The-itchy-feet-gene/articleshow/27052365.cms | accessdate=20 February 2017 | archive-date=27 August 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827102314/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/The-itchy-feet-gene/articleshow/27052365.cms | url-status=live }}</ref>

He had edited ''Parhejdar'' magazine in 1850 and also edited educational monthly ''Gujarat Shala Patra'' (1862–78, 1887–91). He was an incharge of reformist weekly ''Satyaprakash'' for ten months in 1857.<ref name="Raval2002"/> In 1885, he was awarded Rao Saheb and [[Order of the Indian Empire|Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]] (CIE) by the British government. He was associated with Ahmedabad [[Prarthana Samaj]] and [[Gujarat Vernacular Society]] as well several other organisations seeking social reforms like widow remarriage, prohibition of child marriage. He had also served as commissioner and chairman of [[Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation|Ahmedabad Municipality]].<ref name="Raval2002"/><ref name="GSP"/>

[[File:Mahipatram Rupram Ashram.jpg|thumb|Mahipatram Rupram Ashram, founded in 1892 in Raipur area of [[Ahmedabad]], is named after him]]
He died in [[Ahmedabad]] on 30 May 1891.<ref name="GSP"/> His wife Parvatikunwar had supported and participated in his social reform activities.<ref name="John 2013"/> His son [[Ramanbhai Nilkanth]] was also writer and he also served as a mayor of Ahmedabad. An orphanage named Mahipatram Rupram Ashram was established on 17 December 1892 in Raipur, Ahmedabad in his memory which is now one of the largest and the oldest orphanages in India.<ref name="John 2013"/><ref name="Mahipatram Rupram Ashram 2017">{{cite web | title=About Us | website=Mahipatram Rupram Ashram | date=18 January 2017 | url=http://mahipatram.in/about-us.html | accessdate=20 February 2017 | archive-date=21 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221005808/http://www.mahipatram.in/about-us.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> British travel writer [[Pico Iyer]] is his great-great-grandson.<ref name="Johnb 2013"/>

==Works==
He wrote the first travelogue of Gujarati literature, ''Englandni Musafarinu Varnan'' (1862) in which he had described political, social, education condition of England then as well as descriptions of some popular places in England.<ref name="Raval2002"/> ''Uttam Kapol Karsandas Mulji Charitra'' (1877) is a biography of his public figure and friend [[Karsandas Mulji]]. ''Mehtaji Durgaram Manchharam Charitra'' (1879) is a biography based on diary of [[Durgaram Mehta]]. ''Parvatikunwar Akhyan'' (1881, second edition) is biography of his wife. ''Akbarcharitra'' (1887, second edition) is his historical biography of [[Akbar]] which is mostly based on English translation of ''[[Akbarnama]]''.<ref name="Raval2002" /><ref name="GSP"/><ref name="John 2013"/>

His initial, basic and historically important three novels of Gujarati literature are as follows: ''Sasuvahuni Ladai'' (1866) is about family life with mild humour which is considered as the first social novel in Gujarati.<ref name="Raval2002"/> ''Sadhara Jesang'' (1880) and ''Vanraj Chavdo'' (1881) are basic historical novels on [[Jayasimha Siddharaja]] and [[Vanraj Chavda]] respectively. They are chiefly based on folklores and cultural history.<ref name="GSP"/><ref name="Raval2002"/><ref>{{cite book|author=[[Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi]]|title=Gujarāta and Its Literature: A Survey from the Earliest Times|url=http://www.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/245019|year=1935|publisher=Longmans, Green & Company, Limited|page=248}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

He collected and edited the first collection ''Vesha''s of folk theatre [[Bhavai]] as ''Bhavai Sangrah''. He wrote his wish to reestablish Bhavai in its preface. He also published a collection of ''[[Garba (dance)|Garbi]]''s. He published ''Bodhvachan'', a collection of sayings in poetic form.<ref name="GSP"/><ref name="Raval2002"/>

From 1856 onward, he wrote booklets on life-sketches of [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]], [[Galileo Galilei]], [[Isaac Newton]] etc. He also translated work of Chamber{{who|date=February 2017}} with [[Nanabhai Haridas]]. He also wrote school textbooks; ''Gujarati Bhashanu Navu Vyakaran'' (New Grammar of Gujarati language, 1883) and ''Vyutpattiprakash'' (1889). He had also written books on education, geography, geology, science, medicine which were mostly translated works for students.<ref name="GSP"/>

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Parikh|first1=Sukumar|last2=Parikh|first2=Shailaja Kalelkar|title=Marching to a Different Beat: The Nilkanths of Gujarat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szpNoAEACAAJ|year=2013|publisher=Akshara Prakashan |isbn=978-93-82255-35-2}}

==References==
{{wikisource|gu:સર્જક:મહિપતરામ રૂપરામ નીલકંઠ|Mahipatram Rupram Nilkanth}}
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilkanth, Mahipatram Rupram}}
[[Category:Gujarati-language writers]]
[[Category:1891 deaths]]
[[Category:1829 births]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:People from Surat]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian biographers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian essayists]]
[[Category:Indian social reformers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Indian male novelists]]
[[Category:Indian historical novelists]]
[[Category:Prarthana Samaj]]
[[Category:Nilkanth family]]
[[Category:Indian male biographers]]
[[Category:Novelists from British India]]
[[Category:Essayists from British India]]
[[Category:Indian male essayists]]
[[Category:Biographers from British India]]
[[Category:People from Bombay Presidency]]

Mahipatram Rupram Nilkanth - Revision history

Ankitchadha at 17:23, 19 January 2026