Jethmal Parsram, who was jailed for two years for writing against the British rule in India, was a Sufi, and member of theosophical society of Annie Besant.
Today is death anniversary of most illustrious scholar of Sindhi language and literature and freedom fighter Jethmal Parsram Gulrajani. He was born in 1885 in the famous Amil family of Hyderabad Sindh.
He had interest in Sufism and Sufi poetry since childhood. He studied poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast, Sami, Rohal, Bedal and even Shakespeare, Goethe and others at a very young age. He was a member of theosophical society of Annie Besant. He was appointed as a Professor of Sindhi at National College Phuleli (Now Government College University Hyderabad) in 1933.
According to Jayanti Thakkar from India, he founded and edited a number of newspapers and literary magazines including the Bharatvasi (1920), the Ruha Rehan (1920), the Sindh Herald (1928) and the Parkash (1929). He was a true freedom fighter and was jailed for two years for writing against the British rule in India. He founded Sindhi Sahitya Society in 1922 and authored more than 40 books. He died on 6th July 1948 at Mumbai. (Note: In his book ‘Janab Guzarium Jin Sen’, G.M. Syed writes his date of death as 5th July 1948)
While, late Prof. Dr. Allah Rakhio Butt, in his article ‘The HindVasi Sedition Case’ (Published on Aug. 14, 2019), writes about Jethmal Parsram Gulrajani, who had faced the sedition case, as under:
“On Saturday the 5th July 1919, the court of the Additional District Magistrate Hyderabad was jam packed with the people belonging to all walks of life. They had gathered there to witness the judgement in the much talked about the seditious charges against the editor of most popular local daily the Hindvasi. The European magistrate dispensing justice was no less than H.T. Sorley (d. 1969) a British Civil Servant of I.C.S. rank.”
“The accused on the other hand was not an ordinary person. He was Jethmal Parsram Gulrajani (1885-1948) editor and publisher of the Hindvasi, who later edited well-known periodicals. Famous theosophist and Swarajist Jethmal was a learned man. He produced enormous amount of literature of social reform with a touch of political radicalism in it. Author of the well-known Sindh and its Sufis, he wrote more than three dozen books in English and Sindhi including translation of Hamlet, Tempest and Faust.”
Read more about Jethmal Parsram Gulrajani’s life and struggle
Originally a disciplined and strict teacher Jethmal belonged to the educated Amil community of Hyderabad. In protest against the compulsory vaccination program of the Government, he resigned his job in Education Department in or around 1911. In 1916, he joined the Home Rule League of Annie Besant and in April of the same year founded the Hindvasi, second oldest daily in Sindhi. He took active part in Home Rule Movement. These activities proved a turning point in his future literary and public careers for they transformed his outlook enormously. From 1916 and onward no literary, social and political gathering in Hyderabad was complete, if Jethmal did not attend it. He was an aggressive public speaker also.
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