Mahipatram Nilkanth

Mahipatram Rupram Nilkanth was a Gujarati educationist, reformer, novelist and biographer from 19th-century India.

Life He was born in Surat on 3 December 1829 to Vadnagara Nagar Brahmin family of Rupram Nilkanth and Girijagauri. He lost his mother when he was one and half years old. He was engaged, when four years old, to three years old girl Parvatikunwar. He completed elementary education of local 'village school' in Gopipura, Surat known as Pranshankar Mehtaji's school. Later he joined Government English school. During his school days, he was influenced by his teachers and reformers Durgaram Mehta and Dadoba Pandurang, brother of Atmaram Pandurang who founded Prarthana Samaj. He also attended weekly meetings of Manav Dharma Sabha run by them.

He had edited Parhejdar magazine in 1850 and also edited educational monthly Gujarat Shala Patra (1862–78, 1887–91). He was an incharge of reformist weekly Satyaprakash for ten months in 1857. British travel writer Pico Iyer is his great-great-grandson.

He collected and edited the first collection Veshas of folk theatre Bhavai as Bhavai Sangrah. He wrote his wish to reestablish Bhavai in its preface. He also published a collection of Garbis. He published Bodhvachan, a collection of sayings in poetic form.

From 1856 onward, he wrote booklets on life-sketches of Columbus, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton etc. He also translated work of Chamber with Nanabhai Haridas. He also wrote school textbooks; Gujarati Bhashanu Navu Vyakaran (New Grammar of Gujarati language, 1883) and Vyutpattiprakash (1889). He had also written books on education, geography, geology, science, medicine which were mostly translated works for students.