Jayant Pathak

Jayant Himmatlal Pathak (20 October 1920 – 1 September 2003) was a Gujarati poet and literary critic from Gujarat, India. He was the president of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad from 1990 – 1991. He received several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kumar Suvarna Chandrak, the Narmad Suvarna Chandrak, the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak and the Uma-Snehrashmi Prize. The Jayant Pathak Poetry Award is named after him. Pathak was born into a Gauda Brahmins family on 20 October 1920, at Goth, a village now in the Rajgadh taluka of Panchmahal district, Gujarat, India, to Ichchhaba and Himmatram Joitaram Pathak. "Bachudo" (Lit. Small Child) was his childhood nickname. Pathak was raised by his grandfather Joitaram, because his father Himmatram died when he was about ten years old. He completed his preschool education in Rajgadh. Then, he moved to Motabahen's (a.k.a. Pushpabahen) home in Kalol in 1930, and joined the N.G.S. High School in Kalol and completed matriculation there in 1938. He completed a Bachelor of Arts from M.T.B Arts College in 1943 and a Master of Arts in Gujarati and Sanskrit subjects from Vadodara college in 1945. He received a Ph.D. in 1960, under Vishnuprasad Trivedi, for his research thesis, 1920 Pachhini Gujarati Kavitani Sanskrutik Bhoomika: Paribalo Ane Siddhi. He married Bhanubahen.