سنڌي ورچوئل لائبرري

Dr. H. M. Gurbaxani, an eminent Scholar, educationist and a Linguist hailing from a well-to-do family, was born at Hyderabad (Sind) in 1883. After the completion of primary and secondary education in a Church Missionary School and Union Academy, he first sought admission to the D. J. Sind College, Karachi. Later he joined the famous Wilson College, -Bombay and obtained B. A. (1905) & M. A. (1907) degrees in high second class.

Impressed by his achievement and personality the authorities of the College offered him the post of Assistant Professor in English and Persian which he readily accepted. He however, relinquished the post soon after to join his D. J. Sindh College, Karachi, as Professor and Head of the Department of Persian. From 1908 to 1947 he held that post with great distinction and, besides teaching Persian, he helped the Department of English as well for a brief spell. He became Vice-Principal from 1927 onwards and Dean, Faculty of Arts from 1942 to 1944. He was appointed Principal from 1942 but his career came to an abrupt end when he suddenly breathed his last on 11th February 1947.

So far as his literary achievements are concerned it might be mentioned that his place in the history of Sindhi literature was assured when he brought out a historical romance, Noor Jahan (1915). But his magnum opus being a critical edition of a Sindhi class Shah-jo-Risalo with a masterly Introduction, notes and commentary in three volumes Vol. 1 was published in 1923, Volume II and III were brought out in 1925 & 1927. This work established him as a Philologist and linguist as he traced the origin of each word in the Risalo to its origin by approved Philological process. Besides he was acknowledged as a unique scholar of Sindhi language and literature.

Regarding his writings in English, as far as we can ascertain, there is a Report in the “Hitherto Published Literature in the Sindhi Language” prepared by him at the instance of the then Principal and which was submitted in 1921 to the University of Bombay, resulting in the inclusion of Sindhi as a subject in curriculum. The same is not traceable but its extract under the title of “A Brief Survey of Sindhi Literature” appeared in the College Miscellany (1926).

Before his departure for England in 1926, he had made a thorough study of Indian mystical thought, Islamic mysticism (Sufism) and Christian mysticism and was convinced of uniformity of ideas amongst the mystics of the world. He joined the London University and wrote his masterly thesis “Mysticism in the Early Nineteenth Century Poetry of England” for which he was awarded Ph. D. degree in 1928. The thesis was considered of such caliber that the University authorities had sanctioned a grant of ₤80 for its publication which, however, could not be availed of then. Now after a Lapse of more than fifty years the same is seeing the light of the day in his birth Centenary year.

The last English writing available is his brief article on Sindhi in Joseph Shipley’s “Encyclopedia of Literature” (Philosophical Library New York, 1946).

He died at Karachi on 11th February, 1947.

1. K. Mansharamani