Bhadrambhadra

Bhadrambhadra is a 1900 Gujarati language satirical novel by Ramanbhai Neelkanth. It is regarded as the first humorous novel in Gujarati literature. The novel is influenced by The Pickwick Papers and Don Quixote. Ramanlal had a long running controversy with Manilal Dwivedi on numerous topics related to religion, philosophy, social reform, education and literature. Ramanlal was a liberal who was open to western influences while Manilal was an orthodox who opposed the western influences. Ramanbhai showed up the rigidity, pettiness, vanity and hypocrisy of these opponents of social reform in the book. Ramanbhai Neelkanth's enthusiasm for social reform was strongly influenced by his father, Mahipatram Rupram Nilkanth, an educationist and social reformer. Bhadrambhadra was serialized from 1892 to 1900 in Jnanasudha, the organ of Ahmedabad Prarthana Samaj edited by Ramanbhai himself, ==Synopsis==

; 1 September 2018 The novel is named after its protagonist, Bhadrambhadra. It is narrated in the first person by Ambaram Kevalram Modakiya, a pupil of Bhadrambhadra. Bhadrambhadra is an orthodox Hindu Brahmin and an idiosyncratic person, who is opposed to anything that is non-traditional, non-Hindu, non-Sanskrit, non-Aryan or that is different from his traditional way of life or pattern of thoughts. Because of this, he changed his name from Daulat Shankar to Bhadrambhadra (lit. Good Good), as the word Daulat is non-Sanskrit, non-Indian and so, he felt, irreligious in origin. ==Reception and criticism==

Bhadrambhadra is considered a classic of Gujarati literature and it was received well by readers and a number of critics. Anandshankar Dhruv strongly criticized the novel and called it 'a barrier in social reform activities'. ==Legacy==

During Ramanbhai's life, the character Bhadrambhadra became very popular and anybody who spoke Sanskritised Gujarati was nicknamed Bhadrambhadra. It is still a common nickname for any highly orthodox person. Gujarati writer Viththal Pandya wrote a short story "Bhadrambhadra Ane Hu" which brings Bhadrambhadra with him in contemporary milieu of 20th century in which they visit cinema and hotels in new sociopolitical climate. Gujarati columnist Urvish Kothari wrote a short novel titled "Bhadrambhadra" which is based on Bhadrambhadra's adventures in the Patidar reservation agitation of 2015. ==References==