Akho


Akho

 

Born 1591, in the village of Jetalpur, near Ahmadabad; died 1656. Indian poet; wrote in Gujarati. Belonged to the caste of jewelers.

Akho became famous for his six-line chappas—allegorical works in which the poet stigmatizes the caste system, religious obscurantism, and hypocrisy. He was the author of 746 such works, as well as the philosophical poems “Tale of a Teacher and a Student,” “Tale of Reason,” “The Song of Akho,” and others, in which he propagates the idea of equality of people regardless of caste.

REFERENCES

Ambalal, B. Jani, Akhabhakta and His Poems. [No place,] 1907.
Divatia, N. B. “Akho.” In Gujarati Language and Literature, vol. 2. Bombay, 1932. Pages 232–239.