Kavi Dalpatram: Gujarat’s Poet Reformer

Statues of great men usually stand on lofty pedestals, lording over public squares or busy streets. Not this one. The memorial to Kavi Dalpatram, at Lambeshwar ni Pol in Ahmedabad, has clearly been made with much love. The life-like statue of the poet-reformer has him seated with one leg crossed, his empty left shoe obediently resting next to the other one, and his hands clasped on a book.

This 120 kg of bronze likeness of Kavi Dalpatram is seated on a platform where the poet’s home once stood, in a quiet, traditional neighbourhood in Ahmedabad. He grew up like regular kids do but went on to become one of the most towering figures of Gujarati literature.