Hotchand Molchand Gurbakhshani

Hotchand Molchand Gurbakhshani (or Gurbuxani) (Sindhi: هوتچند مولچند گربخشاڻي) (March 8, 1884 - February 11, 1947) was an educationist and scholar who is well known for his annotated translation of the Sufi poetic compendium Shah Jo Risalo. He served as Principal of D.J. Sindh College Karachi. He also served as the first president of Sindh Historical Society. Hotchand Gurbakhshani was born in a well educated Hindu Amil family of Hyderabad, Sindh, British India (Now Pakistan) on 8 March 1884. His father Deewan Molchand was employee of Revenue Department. His grandfather Deewan Nainsukhdas was a landlord. After attending Primary School, he was admitted in the Nevelrai Hiranand Academy of Hyderabad from where he passed matriculation examination in 1899. Then he went to Karachi and received Bachelor of Arts degree from D.J. Sindh College. It was one of the best colleges of Sindh at that time. He received Master of Arts degree in English and Persian from Wilson College Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1907. He was one of the best students of this college and based on merit he was offered position of Assistant Professor in the same college. He worked on this position only for a few months and then returned to Sindh and joined his alma mater D.J. Sindh College Karachi as a Professor of Persian. In 1928, he went to UK and received PhD degree from University of London. The title of his PhD thesis was Mysticism in the Early 19th Century Poetry of England. He spent rest of his life in D.J. College and served as Dean Faculty of Arts, Vice Principal and then Principal of this college. On 14 November 1921, on the request of Bombay University, he presented a scholarly report on Sindhi Literature to the University. Based on this report, the Bambay University decided to include Sindhi in college curriculum. Thus he laid the foundation for recognition of Sindhi language and literature in India. Dr Gurbakhshani was also founding President of Sindh Historical Society. The Journal of this society published valuable research articles on history of Sindh. This Society was founded for restructuring the history of Sindh. His father and grandfather were devotees of Shah Inayat Sufi, the Sufi saint of Sindh, so he himself was attracted towards Sufism since childhood. His students included Umar Bin Muhammad Daudpota, Miran Mohammad Shah and Muhammad Ayub Khuhro.