Narayan Hemchandra

Narayan Hemchandra Divecha (1855–1904), commonly known as Narayan Hemchandra, was a Gujarati writer, translator and critic. He travelled extensively and wrote autobiography, novels, stories and criticism. He was a prolific translator and credited with introducing Bengali literature to Gujarat.

Biography Narayan Hemchandra Divecha was born in 1855 in Diu and spent most of his life in Bombay (now Mumbai). He had not studied much but had travelled extensively. He went to England four times. In 1875, he went to Allahabad with Navinchandra Roy where he started translating. He is credited with introducing Bengali literature to Gujarat.

Works Hemchandra had written about two hundred works. efn-ua|Narmad had written his autobiography in 1866 but he had requested it to be published posthumously. It was published in 1933, on his birth centenary. Two autobiographies were published before it, Hu Pote (1900) by Narayan Hemchandra and Satyana Prayogo (1925-1929) by Mahatma Gandhi. He had also written a biography on Prophet Mohammed.

He was a prolific translator. His notable translations include: Doctor Samuel Johnson nu Jivancharitra (Biography of Samuel Johnson, 1839), Malatimadhav (1893), Priyadarshika and Sanyasi. He had translated large number of Bengali works in Gujarati including works of Rabindranath Tagore. He has also written on literature, education and music.