Ramanlal Soni

Ramanlal Pitambardas Soni, also known by his pen name Sudamo, is a children's writer, translator and social worker from Gujarat, India. He authored primarily in Gujarati language.

Life

He was born on January 25, 1908 in Kokapur near Modasa in north Gujarat. He completed his school education in Modasa. In 1940, he completed BA from Agra University. He came back to Modasa and joined Modasa high school as a principal. He left job in 1945 to be involved in social work. He went to Yerwada Central Jail during satyagraha movement in 1932 where he learnt Bengali language. Later he served as a member of legislative assembly of Bombay state from 1952 to 1957. He died on September 20, 2006 at Ahmedabad.

Works

He wrote original as well as translated and adapted children's literature. He wrote stories, poems, rhymes, plays and biographies for them. His autobiography titled Rakh nu Pankhi was published in 1999. He translated Bengali literature in Gujarati. Some notable works include Gora, Chokher Bali, Rajarshi by Rabindranath Tagore; Shrikant by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. He also translated works of Tarashankar Bandopadhyay and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Awards

He was awarded Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, the highest literary award in Gujarati language, in 1996. He also received Gujarat Gaurav Puraskar by Government of Gujarat in 1999.