Jhaverchand Meghani

Jhaverchand Meghani was born in Chotila, Gujarat to Kalidas and Dholima Meghani. His father Kalidas worked in the Police force and hence was often transferred to new places causing most of Jhaverchand's education to happen in Rajkot. He had two brothers Lalchand and Prabhashankar. He was married to a woman named Damyanti at the age of 24 and following the demise of his wife, he married Chitradevi at the age of 36. He had 9 children out of which 3 were girls namely Indu, Padmala and Murli, while 6 were boys, namely Mahendra, Mastan, Nanak, Vinod, Jayant and Ashok.^[5]

He lived a simple and sober life and his simplicity prompted his college mates to call him Raja Janak.

He habitually wore a white long coat, a dhoti reaching well down the knees and a turban typically tied around his head. He finished his matriculation in 1912 and completed his BA in 1917. He started his career in Kolkata and joined Jeevanlal and Co. in 1918 as Personal Assistant and was fondly called Paghadee Babu by his colleagues and workers alike. He was soon promoted as the Manager of the company's factory at Belur, Crown Aluminium. In 1919, he went to England for a four-month tour. After coming back to India, he continued to work in Kolkata for 2 and half-years. Later, he returned to Saurashtra and joined the editorial board of the weekly Saurashtra at Rajkot in 1922.^{[citation needed]}

In 1930, he was sentenced to 2 years in jail for writing the book Sindhudo that contained songs to inspire the youth of India that was participating in the struggle for Independence against the British Raj. It is during this time that he wrote Kavya Triputi based on Gandhiji's visit to London for the Round Table conference. During this period, he also started writing short stories independently and served as editor for Phoolchaab magazine.^{[6][failed verification]}

In 1926, he ventured into poetry with his book of children poems Veni Na Phool and started writing in Janmabhumi under the column Kalam Ane Kitaab. He established his reputation as a critic by his independent novels. In 1936, he became the editor of Phoolchaab. In 1942, he ventured into publishing with his book Marela Na Rudhir. In 1945, after retiring from Phoolchaab, he concentrated on personal writing. In 1946, his book Mansai Na Deeva was awarded the Mahida Award. The same year, he was elected to head the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad's Sahitya Section. In 1929, he gave 6 lectures for Gyan Prasarak Mandali. He also lectured at Santiniketan owing to his long association with Rabindranath Tagore. Meghani was also known as a Manbhatt poet due to his significant contribution to folk ballads.^{[3][failed verification]} A movie song Man Mor Bani Thangat Kare in the 2013 Hindi film Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela is written by him.^[7]

• Jhaverchand Meghani on GujLit
• Works by Zaverchand Kalidas Meghani at Google Books
• Works by or about Jhaverchand Meghani at the Internet Archive
• aksharnaad.com – Some of Shri Jhaverchand Meghani's works for free download as an ebook
• meghani.com – a Gujarati website principally aimed at providing information about Meghani's literary contributions
• Zaverchand Meghani Books | Novel | Stories