A Brilliant Child

A brilliant child was born on the 13th of January 1913 to a devoted and cultured Kayasth Brahmin family of Dabhoi, a town in the Vadodara district of Gujarat State, India. His father, Jamnadas Majmudar, and his mother, Mangalaba, named the boy Saraswatichandra. The family called him by his pet name, Hariprasad1.

His parents were staunchVaishnavites, members of a Hindu sect devoted to Lord Krishna, and this was a predominant influence in the formation of the child’s character. In his adolescence Saraswatichandra also developed respect and devotion for LordShiv as well as for Saraswati, the goddess of learning.

Jamnadas served the state and owned a little tillable land, but the large family of seven daughters and two sons was very poor. Jamnadas, like other devotees, was altruistic and generous. This further impoverished the family. Jamnadas died when Krishnalal, his eldest son, was fourteen and Saraswatichandra was only seven. Krishnalal had developed a predilection for devotional life and had been averse to worldly affairs since childhood. Thus the responsibility for the family fell to Mangalaba. Over time the family’s debt steadily increased until they faced the confiscation of their home. In later years Saraswatichandra retained a vivid recollection of the family’s possessions being put out into the street when the house was taken from them.

In these troubled times Saraswatichandra continued his studies through the seventh grade and secured top honors each year. Despite his excellent performance, the family’s poverty forced him to leave school in 1927 at the age of fourteen.

In order to improve the economic condition of the family he suppressed his aspirations for further studies and, instead, accepted a temporary post as a municipal tax clerk. This job was to last for only four or five months. Saraswatichandra then found another job as an accounts clerk in a Dabhoi firm, where he served honestly for three years (1928-1930) and won the favor of the owner, Mr. Kaduji Ganiji. During this period Saraswatichandra read and wrote literature in his spare time. Some of his articles and poems were published in contemporary periodicals. Simultaneously, he learned music. His elder brother Krishnalal, a good musician himself, gave him his primary training. The classical aspects of his knowledge of music came from Ustad Gulam Rasool Khan Sahib of the state-established music school in Dabhoi.2

At the age of eighteen years, Saraswatichandra resolved to save his family from financial crisis by working harder,