Prabhulal Dayaram Dwivedi

Prabhulal Dayaram Dwivedi was popularly known as Natyamaharshi. The literal meaning of which is `Great sage of theatre`. He was major playwright of the old Gujarati theatre, along with Raghunath Brahmbhatt and Manilal `Pagal`. Prabhulal Dayaram Dwivedi was born in Virpur. That was a small village of Saurashtra. Dwivedi was groomed in a family tradition of deep devotion to religion and philosophy. His very first attempt at drama in 1916 established him in theatre securely, but his play Malavpati Munj i.e. `Munj, Lord of Malwa` in 1924 made him popular not only because of the multidimensional characterization of Munj and Minal, but also the songs rendered by the famous actor-singer Ashraf Khan. Vadilona vanke i.e. `For Forefathers` Faults` in 1938 and Sampatti mate i.e. `Craving Property` in 1941 earned him high acclaim and ran for hundreds of consecutive shows before packed audiences in the early 1940s all over Gujarat. Ramchandra Thakur cinematized Vadilona vanke in 1948. Vidya varidhi Bharavi i.e. `Bharavi, Ocean of Knowledge` was considered `literary` by scholars, overcoming the deep-rooted prejudices towards professional stage scribes.

Prabhulal Dayaram Dwivedi also composed many of the songs in his works and scripted screenplays. He continued writing despite fading eyesight, producing over sixty titles with mythological, historical, and social content, featuring sympathetic delineation of character and intimate knowledge of human life. This scholarly person died in 1962.

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