Bherumal Meharchand Advani


Bherumal Meharchand Advani was a poet and prose writer of Sindhi language. He was a scholar, educationist, novelist, linguist, historian and poet who authored more than 40 books.

Biography

He was born in Hyderabad, Sindh Pakistan. The exact date of his birth and even year of birth is not known. It is either 1875, or 1876,. His father's name was Meharchand Advani. He studied at Mission School and Union Academy Hyderabad. The Union Academy was founded by Sadhu Navalrai and Hiranand on 28 October 1888. The aim of this school was to impart religious instruction, to spread the knowledge of Sanskrit, and to built up of a sound footing the character of the young generation. At Union Academy he learnt poetry of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai from the renowned scholars Heeranand Shaukiram and Tarachand Shaukiram. He married three times. From first wife, he did not have any child. From his second marriage, he had one son and one daughter. From his third marriage, he had two daughters.
He started his career as a Distillery Inspector in the Salt Department at Kotri Sindh. He served in this Department for 28 years. In 1925 he was appointed as a lecturer of Sindhi in D.J. Sindh College Karachi. Later on, he served as Chairman of Sindhi Department in the same college. He moved to India in 1949 and lived in Pune where he died on 7 July 1950.
Renowned Indian writer Hiro Thakur has written a book on his biography and contributions.

Contributions

He was one of the most influential writers of Sindh during the first half of the 20th century. He is popular as a Dramatist, historian, linguist and poet. He has authored more than 40 books. Some of his most popular books are listed below. A complete list can be found elsewhere.

As a Dramatist/Story Writer

Some of his drama and stories include:
His most popular books on history include:
He was a lover of Sindhi Language, Sindhi Grammar and Social Sciences. He was also well versed in Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. As a language expert and grammarian, he authored many books including the following:
He named himself as "Gharib" in his poetry. His poetry may be divided into two parts: for children and for adults. One of his poetry collection for children "Gulzar-e-Nazem" was published in 1926.

As an Expert of Latifiyat

He was master of the poetry of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, the greatest sufi poet of Sindh. His book Latifi Sair is a masterpiece in which he had depicted in detail Shah Latif's travel to Hinglaj and back to Ginar and Thar. His other books on the poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai include:
Advani authored and compiled a number of other books which include the following: