>Gazal world: pseudonym

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pseudonym

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{{Infobox writer
| name = Sundarji Betai
| image =
| caption =
| pseudonym = Dwaipayan, Mitravarunau
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1905|08|10}}
| birth_place = [[Bet Dwarka]], [[Baroda State]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1989|01|16|1905|08|10}}
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]], India
| occupation = Poet, critic, translator
| education = MA, LLB
| alma_mater = [[University of Bombay]]
}}
'''Sundarji Gokaldas Betai''' (10 August 1905 – 16 January 1989) was [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] poet, critic and translator from India. Educated Masters in Gujarati, he taught Gujarati at [[SNDT|SNDT Women's College]] for years. He was a prolific poet who had published nine poetry collections.

==Biography==
Betai was born on 10 August 1905 in [[Bet Dwarka]].<ref name="AGSI2" /><ref name="Jhaveri 1978 189">{{Cite book|last=Jhaveri|first=Mansukhlal Maganlal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DA0RAAAAMAAJ&q=sundarji+betai|title=History of Gujarati Literature|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|year=1978|pages=189|author-link=Mansukhlal Jhaveri}}</ref> He completed [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in English and Gujarati from [[University of Bombay]] in 1928, [[Bachelor of Law|LLB]] in 1932 and [[Master of Arts|MA]] in Gujarati and [[Sanskrit]] in 1936.<ref name="AGSI2">{{cite book|last=Brahmabhatt|first=Prasad|title=અર્વાચીન ગુજરાતી સાહિત્યનો ઈતિહાસ (ગાંધીયુગ અને અનુગાંધી યુગ)|publisher=Parshwa Publication|year=2007|location=Ahmedabad|pages=161–163|language=gu|script-title=gu:Arvachin Gujarati Sahityano Itihas (Gandhiyug Ane Anugandhi Yug)|trans-title=History of Modern Gujarati Literature (Gandhi Era & Post-Gandhi Era)}}{{ISBN missing|date=September 2019}}</ref><ref name="GSP"/>

He served as a subeditor in ''Hindustan'' and ''Prajamitra'' publications for about for or five years. Later he served as a principal in a college in [[Bombay]] (now Mumbai) and later joined [[SNDT|SNDT Women's College]] where he served as a professor of Gujarati until his retirement. He was a member of the [[PEN International|Indian PEN]]. He died on 16 January 1989 in Mumbai, [[Maharashtra]], India.<ref name="AGSI2"/><ref name="GSP"/>

==Works==

Betai was a prolific poet and wrote poetry for more than fifty years. He was heavily influenced by his teacher [[Narsinhrao Divetia]]'s poetry as well as Sanskrit metres which is visible in his generally serious style and gentle tones in ''khandakavya''s (epic poems) and elegies. Though he has not participated in the Indian independence movement, he was influenced the [[Gandhism|Gandhian philosophy]] and the popularity of [[sonnet]]s then.<ref name="AGSI2" /><ref name="GSP" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Natarajan|first1=Nalini|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lTnv6o-d_oC&q=sundarji+betai+walden&pg=PA115|title=Handbook of Twentieth-century Literatures of India|last2=Nelson|first2=Emmanuel Sampath|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1996|isbn=978-0-313-28778-7|pages=115|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Duggal|first=Kartar Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=byluAAAAMAAJ&q=sundarji+betai|title=Writer in freedom struggle, India & Bulgaria|publisher=Twenty-first Century India Society|year=1988|pages=72}}</ref> '''Dwaipayan''' and '''Mitravarunau''' were his pseudonyms.<ref name="AGSI2"/><ref name="GSP"/>

''Jyotirekha'' (1934) is a collection of five epic poems based on [[Puranas|Puranic]], mythological and historical events. Later four more epic poems were added to it.<ref name="AGSI2" /><ref name="GSP" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Chopra|first=Pran Nath|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_NtAAAAMAAJ&q=sundarji+betai|title=Encyclopaedia of India|publisher=Rima Pub. House|year=1992|pages=178}}</ref> ''Indradhanu'' (1939) has 111 poems divided in five sections. ''Visheshanjali'' (1952) has some poems influenced by the metres of folk songs while many poems have a sea as the metaphor. ''Sadgat Chandrasheelane'' (1959) is a long elegy divided in nine sections written in memory of his late wife in which he recounts his 36-year long married life.<ref name="AGSI2" /><ref name="GSP" /><ref name=":0" /> ''Tulsidal'' (1961) has 54 poems including ''Sadgat Chandrasheelane'' as well as a poetic translation of ''[[Dhammapada]]'' and a popular song "Panje Vatanji Galyu". ''Vyanjana'' (1969) and ''Anuvyanjana'' (1974) have spiritual and philosophical poems. ''Shishire Vasant'' (1976) has 34 poems and 21 verses while ''Shravani Jharmar'' (1982) has 72 poems.<ref name="AGSI2"/><ref name="GSP"/><ref name=":0" />

He has also written some works of criticism. ''Suvarnamegh'' (1964) includes criticism of poetry of [[Nhanalal]], [[Balwantray Thakore]] and [[Jhaverchand Meghani]] as well as previously published ''Gujarati Sahityama Sonnet'' (Sonnets in Gujarati Literature, 1935).<ref name="AGSI2" /> ''Aamod'' (1978) is a critical study of Gujarati and Sanskrit poets and their poems.<ref name="AGSI2" /><ref name=":0" /> ''Narsinhrao'' (1980) is a concise monograph of [[Narsinhrao Divetia]].<ref name="AGSI2"/><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMFjAAAAMAAJ&q=sundarji+betai|title=The Indian P.E.N.|publisher=P.E.N. All-India Centre|year=1987|volume=48|pages=20}}</ref>

He has translated [[William Moreton Condry]]'s ''Thoreau'', a biography of [[Henry David Thoreau]], as ''Mahamanav Thoreau'' in Gujarati. He has also translated Thoreau's ''[[Walden]]'' in Gujarati.<ref name="AGSI2" /> He has also translated last four cantos of ''[[Mahabharata]]'' and verse rendering of ''[[Bhagvad Gita]]'' as ''Romharshini''.<ref name="AGSI2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Jhaveri|first1=Mansukhlal Maganlal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DA0RAAAAMAAJ&q=sundarji+betai|title=History of Gujarati Literature|last2=Akademi|first2=Sahitya|date=1978|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Jhaveri 1978 189"/> ''Sahityamadhuri'', ''Sahityodyan'' and ''Sahityasushma'' are his edited educational works.<ref name="AGSI2"/><ref name="GSP"/>

==Awards==
He was awarded the [[Narmad Suvarna Chandrak]] in 1958 for ''Tulsidal''.<ref name="AGSI2"/<ref name="GSP">{{cite web|url=http://gujaratisahityaparishad.com/prakashan/sarjako/savishesh/Savishesh-Sunderji-Betai.html|title=સુંદરજી બેટાઈ|language=gu|last=Gadit|first=Jayant|author-link=Jayant Gadit|publisher=[[Gujarati Sahitya Parishad]]}}</ref>

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

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betai, Sundarji}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Devbhoomi Dwarka district]]
[[Category:Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian editors]]
[[Category:Indian translators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Gujarati-language writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Indian literary critics]]
[[Category:University of Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:SNDT Women's University]]
[[Category:20th-century translators]]

Sundarji Betai - Revision history

>Gazal world: pseudonym