Govardhanram Tripathi

Life

Govardhanram was born in Vaishnav Vadnagara Nagar brahmin family on 20 October 1855 on the day of the Dashera festival at Nadiad, Bombay presidency (now in Gujarat), to his mother, Shivkashi, and his father, Madhavram. His ancestors for at least three generations were money-lenders. He took his primary education from the Buddhivardhak Gujarati Shala in Mumbai and Government English School at Nadiad. Thereafter, he joined Elphinstone High School from where he passed his matriculation examination in 1871. In the same year, he joined Elphinstone College to obtain his BA degree. He passed his BA examination at the second attempt, in 1875.

After three unsuccessful attempts, he passed LLB examination in 1883, and started working as a lawyer in Mumbai in 1884. At the age of 43, he retired early and settled in his hometown to contribute to Gujarati literature and public service.

Govardhanram died in Mumbai on the evening of 4 January 1907 at T. K. Gajjar's Bunglow.

Personal life

In 1868, Govardhanram married Harilakshmi, who died in 1874 in a child birth, leaving behind a daughter, Radha, who also died soon after. In 1876, he married Lalitagauri, who gave birth to three daughters, Lilavati (b. 1881), Jashvanti (b. 1884) and Jayanti (b. 1888); and a son, Ramaniyaram (b. 1886). He was a younger cousin of Gujarati writer Mansukhram Tripathi.