Amdavadis remember poet who left his chhaap with Chhappa

Mention ‘17th century’ and ‘literature’ in the same breath to anyone or their uncle, and you will in all likelihood hear a slew of English litterateurs’ names including William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Donne, Milton, Dryden, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Johnson bounced back at you.

The question is how many, at least from Gujarat, would even stop to think of the poets that lived in this neck of the wood during the same era. And not just lived, Akha Bhagat was among a select few Gujarati poets who evolved his own style of poetry – Chhappa – immortalised in the minds of Guj-lit lovers to this day.

In honour of this great 17th century poet and humourist, a group of Amdavadis will plant saplings at his residence in Desai ni Pol, Khadia on Sunday morning.
They will also carry out a candle-lit walk in the evening from 9.45 pm to 11 pm.

Non-profit organisation Indicorps has planned this event to commemorate Akha Bhagat (popularly known as Akho) under their literature heritage project. The activity is part of its youth leadership programme, explained member of the group, Vijay Ramchandani.

When asked about Akha’s writings, city-based poet Hardwar Goswami said: “Akha would always speak his mind, as would whatever he wrote. His writings and poems had both, satire and humour, in them, he is the only poet in Gujarat who has so far succeeded in doing the same.”

However, Goswami added that while Akha’s style had drawn a variety of positive opinions, it was only much later in his life that he received any praise for his work.

Reminiscing about this goldsmith-turned-poet from the 17th century, Jamnagar-based poet Vinod Joshi said that Akha was only superseded by Gujarati poets Narsinh Mehta and Meerabai. “He had shifted to Ahmedabad from Jetalpur and did not have any family. But there was a woman whom he considered a sister. It is said that he once gifted this sister a gold chain. Her curiousity got the better of her and she went to another goldsmith to check to check the purity of the gold. When Akha learned of this, he severed all ties with her. After that, he became miffed with the society and people around him. This angst was later seen in his writings which portrayed sharp words almost degrading the society, religions and nature.”

Attributing Akha’s upfront words as his means to improve society is writer Manibhai Prajapati. The society at large was against Akha as he would often attack social attitudes and religious beliefs through his writings.

Head of department of languages at Gujarat University, Kirti Shah, has penned a book on Akha. According to her, his writings showed the real face of life to the society.

“His works like ‘Akha na Chhappa’, ‘Anubhav Bindu’ (Drop of Experience), ‘Guru-shishya Samvad’ (A dialogue between a teacher and a pupil), ‘Panchikiran’ (Mixture of five elements) and ‘Akhegita’ (Bhagvad Gita by Akho) were my references while writing the book on him. Society, human nature, religions and religious beliefs as well nature were used by Akha as examples in his writings.

He has very well portrayed all of them in a satirical and humouristic manner.”

Shah added that Akha, in one of his lines has portrayed himself and humans as wind-up puppets. “When the key is wound, the puppet dances to instructions. When the instructions stop (when the key is unwound), the puppet stops dancing. That is how Akha saw it,” she said.