Kahanji Madhavji Ratnagrahi

In the field of Christian verse the great name which now emerges is that of Kahanji Madhavji Ratnagrahi. A young man of high caste, he had become a Christian through the ministry of the devoted Esther Khimchand of Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. For the sake of Christ he had lost all that he possessed, but he lived to become the best known Christian poet of Gujarat, whose hymns are full of deep theological meaning, and are still on the lips of thousands. His first work, published in 1895 while he was still a student in the Stevenson Divinity College in Ahmedabad, was a booklet of Christian poetry of 24 pages, in two parts entitled Prema-pachisi ('Twenty-five Love-poems ) and Prema-bodha ('The Teaching of Love'). In 1904 came Khrista-khyan, the story of the Life of Christ in verse, now unfortunately out of print. In 1908 came Subodha Garbavali, a book consisting chiefly of Christian hymns for women and girls to sing at weddings. Lalita Kavyamala appeared in 1923, and Natalna Gito, a collection of Christmas hymns, in the same year. Some of Kahanji Madhavji Ratnagrahi's hymns, such as Svarnu Sukh Te Mukhi Didhu- 'Heaven and its joys Thou didst leave behind Thee ' are among the finest that I know in any language. R.H.S. Boyd <ref>{{{ref}}}</ref>