Sursinhji Gohil

Sursinhji Gohil was a Gujarati poet, and writer. His full name was Sursinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil, and well-known by his pen name Kalapi. He is better known for writing poems. He was born on January 26, 1874, in Lathi, Amreli, British India. His father was Maharaja Takhtasinhji, he was the ruler of Lathi, and Kalapi was known to be the prince of Lathi. His mother was Ramaba. His father died, when he was five, and his mother died when he was fourteen. Kalapi got a permanent impact on these incidents. To complete school education, he went to Rajkumar College in Rajkot, Gujarat, when he was eight years old. He spent his nine years from 1882 to 1891, but he dropped out of school without completing his schooling. He studied English, Sanskrit, and Gujarati literature.

He got married at fifteen to two princesses. The first princess was Rajba-Ramaba, born in 1868, the princess of Kutch-Roha, and the other is Kesharba-Anandiba, born in 1872, the princess of Saurashtra-Kotada. He fell in love with a family maid Shobhana, who served his royal family, when he was twenty years old. It is believed that his passion for his maid had become the source of conflict with his wife Rajba-Ramaba, and it became the reason for his death, due to poisoning by her. Despite his short life, he did a great job in his work. He penned approximately two hundred and fifty poems, which included fifteen thousand verses.

He also authored many prose writings, and more than nine hundred letters to his friends and wives. He did not work with only the Gujarati language, but he also translated four English novels into the Gujarati language. He mentored numerous poets, who further carried on his writing styles, and many of them became famous. Kavi Lalitji was one of the most famous poets among many of them, and he was the about the same age as Kalapi. He was invited to teach the royal children. He and Kalapi became great friends, and Lalitji became the Rajya Kavi of Lathi. He has written many poems in Chhand of Gujarati, namely Shardulvikridit, Mandakranta, Shikharini, and more. Writing poetry in Chhand follows the same rules and style of writing. Aapni Yadi is one of the excellent Ghazals in Gujarati Literature. Since 1997, in his remembrance, the Indian National Theatre in Mumbai has given the Kalapi award annually to the best Gujarati ghazal poet. He died on June 10, 1900, at twenty-six, in Lathi, Bombay Presidency, British