Kulapati Munshi He Scaled Many Peaks of Excellence

Shri H.N.Dastur, Bhavan's Executive Secretary gave a heart warming extempore speech on Kulapati Munshi on July 14, 2012 at Bhavan's Bangalore Kendra.

That was not all. Munshi brought Pherozshah Mehta all the way from Mumbai (then Bombay) to inaugurate this library. Pherozshah Mehta then was the leader of the moderate fraction of the Congress. He was such a lion that Gandhiji writes in his autobiography that 'my first speech in Bombay, I wanted to show it to Pherozshah Mehta, ask him how it was and request him to edit it. But he was so afraid that the wish remained unfulfilled". But Munshi, at the age of 19, successfully brought Pherozshah Mehta, putting his first dream into reality.
When Munshi was in Baroda, he came under the influence of Aurobindo Ghosh and the influence remained till he died. He always talked of Aurobindo's philosophy and got it absorbed in him. Munshi, of course, had many heroes, among whom were Lord Krishna, Veda Vyasa, Valmiki, Vashista, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi and Dayanand Saraswathi were Munshi's real-life heroes. But according to me, his most favorite hero was Lord Krishna because he lived in Lord Krishna all his life. Whatever he was doing, he was not the doer, Krishna was the doer. He was a mere instrument.
In the later years of his life, he wrote 'Krishnavatara' where he depicted Krishna as a hero with divine powers, as a human being who reached the level of God. It is such an interesting study, I would recommend it to all.
I would like to give a personal note. Munshi was dictating his classical masterpiece on Krishnavatara to his stenographer, Sundaresan, who was then the fastest stenographer in Bombay. When I approached Munshi I saw that he was dazed; he was looking up, his eyes were steady and tears were rolling down his eyes. So Sundaresan slowly got up and gestured to me 'let's go out'. While we were out he said "Munshi, while he is dictating Krishnavatara, becomes, so Krishnamaya that he starts weeping. Let us leave him alone for at least half an hour; then he will come back". That was the spiritual level Munshi had reached even while all the time being a worldly man.
He was a great writer in Gujarati. Actually my generation of Gujarati speaking youngsters were brought up on the books of Munshi, his historical and social novels.
There was a time in Gujarat when people would give their new borns names from the characters of Munshi's books, be it Kak, Munjal or Kirtidev. So popular was he that these books are best-sellers even today. The latest edition came out this year.
Munshi had given the copyright to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan manifesting his abiding faith in it. He started writing long before he founded Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and he had found a publisher already. He remained loyal to the publisher. His subsequent books, which he could have easily published himself through Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, he gave to this publisher who continues to publish new editions of these books and gives the royalty to BVB.
When I was in college, I recall Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan organising seminars and symposiums where Rajaji, Acharya Kripalani and Shri C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer, among others, took part. I used to attend those lectures, where Munshi was on the stage. In 1961, Munshi, through Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan established western India's first college of journalism, advertising and printing.
I joined the college as a student of advanced journalism in 1961. Perhaps that was the reason I became the editor of all the three laboratory journals of the college -- one fortnightly, one monthly and one annual.
In those days, the publications were in cyclostyle. Munshi took great interest in this college. Whenever we invited him to participate in a function or even in some brain storming session, he would come and willingly participate. Being the editor of these journals, I contacted him regularly. There are so many beautiful memories of those meetings, the way he treated the students, as if they were his equals, the way he would ask students for advice, etc. the students would feel elated.
Here is one example to show how great a teacher he was. One day our English Professor, Prof. Nedungadi spoke about 'Lady Chatterley's lover'. It was a book which was banned for obscenity. The professor gave his copy to a lady student.