Our Founder
Kulapati Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi had a humble origin. He was born at Broach (Gujarat) on December 30, 1887, to Tapibehn and Maneklal. He completed his school and collegiate education, the latter in Baroda, where he had Sri Aurobindo as one of his teachers (1902). Munshi entered the legal profession in 1913 in Mumbai. With a flourishing practice at the Bar, he was, however, drawn to politics—first to Dr. Annie Besant and later to Mahatma Gandhi. Under Gandhiji’s leadership, he participated in the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 and was imprisoned for six months; later, in 1932, he was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment.
Munshi’s public career began with his entry into the Bombay Legislative Council in 1927 and reached its zenith in the Constituent Assembly (1946–50). As a member of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, he made substantial contributions to the provisions relating to minorities, the official language, and the judiciary. He was an advocate of Hindi as the official language, but opposed linguistic fanaticism. A lover of the English language and literature, he harboured no hatred towards the English as a people. Believing firmly in the unity of India with a strong Centre, and serving as legal adviser to several princely States, he played a decisive role in the integration of States. As the Indian Agent in Hyderabad in 1948, he favoured Police Action.
Dr. Munshi, as Minister in the State of Bombay (1937–39) and at the Centre (1950–52), initiated many salutary measures in the fields of law and order, education, and agriculture. He was a great lover of Sanskrit and a champion of its cause. One of the first institutions he set up was the Mumbadevi Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya; this was followed by the establishment of the Sanskrit Vishwa Parishad.
Kulpati Dr. K.M. Munshi
In spite of his preoccupation with the legal profession and manifold public activities, Munshi found time to produce an uninterrupted stream of stories, novels, plays, and essays. His works in Gujarati are characterised by volume, variety, and vigour, and include social plays, social novels, short stories, historical romances and dramas, and Puranic dramas and novels, among others. Equally varied in theme are his books in English, which range from political polemics to philosophy.
Dr. Munshi, in his individual capacity, earned a name for himself as a “Dynamic Builder.” The institutions he founded cover a wide range of fields—agriculture, care of destitute children, education, literature and the arts, and the publication of books. He was associated with several journals in Hindi, Gujarati, and English. An ardent advocate of social reform, he opposed untouchability and casteism.
The reconstruction of the much-desecrated Somnath Temple in 1948, undertaken in the face of opposition from some national leaders, reflected both his faith in God and Dharma and his zeal for worthy causes.
The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, which Dr. Munshi founded in 1938, was the crowning glory of a life dedicated to noble causes and great purposes. He regarded the Bhavan as an instrument for translating into reality his vision of an India unshaken by the “technological avalanche” and rooted in the values of an immemorial culture that, while not denying worldly joys, aspires to the life of the spirit. It was under the aegis of the Bhavan that he gave concrete shape to his national perspective on Indian history, resulting in the eleven-volume work The History and Culture of the Indian People.
Apart from the Bhavan, Dr. Munshi also founded several other institutions, including Hansraj Morarji Public School, Mumbai; the Children’s Aid Society, Mumbai; and the Somnath Temple Trust.
Above all, Dr. Munshi was a humanist. He was a man of religion but not a religious fanatic. Modern in outlook, he looked to the past to strengthen the cultural roots of the present. He was, as he chose to describe himself, “a seashell thrown up by the mighty flood of the Indian Renaissance.”