Jaya Mehta

{{Short description|Gujarati poet, critic and translator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Use Indian English|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox writer | name = Jaya Mehta | image = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1932|08|16}} | birth_place = Koliyak village, British India (now Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India) | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2025|8|26|1932|08|16}} | occupation = {{flatlist| * Poet * critic * translator }} | language = Gujarati | nationality = | education = M.A., Ph. D. | alma_mater = SNDT Women's University | period = | genres = | subjects = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | years_active = | website = | module = {{Infobox academic | child = yes | doctoral_advisor = Ansuya Trivedi | thesis_title = Humour in Gujarati Poetry and Drama upto 19th-century with Special Reference to Akho, Premanand, Shamal, Dalpatram and Navalram | thesis_url = http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/193707 | thesis_year = 1973 }} }} '''Jaya Vallabhdas Mehta''' (16 August 1932 – 26 August 2025) was a Gujarati poet, critic and translator from Gujarat, India. She was educated and later worked at SNDT Women's University.

==Life== Jaya Mehta was born on 16 August 1932 at Koliyak village near Bhavnagar (now in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India) to Lalitaben and Vallabhdas. She completed P. T. C. and started working as a school teacher.<ref name="TharuLalita1991">{{cite book|author1=Susie J. Tharu|author2=Ke Lalita|title=Women Writing in India: The twentieth century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjZYf9Xf9bcC&pg=PA365|year=1991|publisher=Feminist Press at CUNY|isbn=978-1-55861-029-3|pages=365–366}}</ref> She continued her studies and completed her B.A. in 1954 and her M.A. in 1963 from SNDT Women's University, Mumbai.<ref name="Jani 2018">{{Cite news|url=https://sureshbjani.wordpress.com/2006/08/13/jaya_mehta/|title=જયા મહેતા|last=Jani|first=Suresh B.|date=2006-08-13|work=ગુજરાતી પ્રતિભા પરિચય|access-date=2018-02-26|language=gu-IN}}</ref> She later received her Ph.D. . She served as a professor of Gujarati at SNDT Women's University and retired from there. She was a co-editor of ''Sudha'' (weekly of Saurashtra Trust) and ''Vivechan'' (trimonthly of Department of Gujarati, SNDT Women's University).<ref name="AGSI">{{cite book|title=અર્વાચીન ગુજરાતી સાહિત્યનો ઈતિહાસ - આધુનિક અને અનુઆધુનિક યુગ|last=Brahmabhatt|first=Prasad|publisher=Parshwa Publication|year=2010|isbn=978-93-5108-247-7|location=Ahmedabad|pages=141–142|language=gu|trans-title=History of Modern Gujarati Literature – Modern and Postmodern Era}}</ref> She wrote columns in ''Pravasi'', ''Mumbai Samachar'' and ''Samkalin'' dailies.<ref name="Jani 2018" />

==Works== Jaya Mehta wrote rationalist poetry in free verse. Her poetry is logical and socially aware instead of enclosed in emotional world.<ref name="NatarajanNelson1996">{{cite book|author1=Nalini Natarajan|author2=Emmanuel Sampath Nelson|title=Handbook of Twentieth-century Literatures of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lTnv6o-d_oC&pg=PA125|year=1996|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-28778-7|page=125}}</ref> Her poetry collections are ''Venetian Blind'' (1978), ''Ek Divas'' (1982), ''Akashma Tarao Choop Chhe'' (1985), ''Hospital Poems'' (1987). ''Renu'' and ''Ek Aa Khare Pandadu'' (1989) are her novels.<ref name="AGSI"/><ref name="Jani 2018" /> ''Venetian Blind'' and ''Akashma Tarao Chhup Chhe'' reflect her "concern for the human predicament".<ref name="NatarajanNelson1996"/> ''Manogat'' (1980), ''Kavyajhankhi'' (1985), ''Ane Anusandhan'' (1986), ''Bookshelf'' (1991) are her works of criticism. She has edited ''Kavi Priy Kavita'' (1976), ''Varta Vishwa'' (co-edited, 1980), ''Suresh Dalalna Shreshth Kavyo'' (1985), ''Apna Shresth Nibandho'' (1991), ''Raghupati Raghav Rajaram'' (2007). Her research works include ''Gujarati Kavita Ane Natakma Hasyavinod'', ''Gujaratna Prashsti Kavyo'' (1965), ''Gujarati Lekhikaoe Navalkatha-Varta Sahityama Alekhelu Streenu Chitra''. ''Vimanthi Wheelchair'' is her travelogue.<ref name="AGSI"/>

She had translated several works. ''Mara Mitro'' (1969), ''Arati Prabhu'' (1978), ''Mannu Karan'' (1978), ''Churchbell'' (1980), ''Chani'' (1981), ''Ravindranath: Tran Vyakhyano'', ''Saundaryamimansa'' (co-translated), ''Champo Ane Himpushpa'', ''Samudrayalni Prachand Garjana'', ''Revenue Stamp'' (Autobiography of Amrita Pritam, 1983), ''Dastavej'' (1985), ''Suvarna Mudra Ane...'' (1991). ''Radha, Kunti, Draupadi'' (2001), ''Vyasmudra'' are her translations.<ref name="AGSI"/><ref name="Jani 2018" /> She also translated Ernest Hemingway's ''The Old Man and the Sea'' into Gujarati.

She translated S L Bhyrappa's novel ''Daatu'' into Gujarati in 1992.<ref name="Rao2004">{{cite book|last=Rao|first=D. S.|title=Five Decades: The National Academy of Letters, India : a Short History of Sahitya Akademi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8JDsBBDoMccC&pg=PA48|year=2004|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-260-2060-7|page=48}}</ref>

==Awards== She received the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for her translations.<ref name="AGSI"/>

==See also== * List of Gujarati-language writers

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{Gujarati Vishwakosh}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Jaya}} Category:1932 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Women writers from Gujarat Category:Gujarati-language poets Category:Poets from Gujarat Category:Indian editors Category:Indian columnists Category:Indian literary critics Category:Indian women literary critics Category:People from Bhavnagar district Category:SNDT Women's University alumni Category:20th-century Indian translators Category:20th-century Indian poets Category:20th-century Indian novelists Category:Novelists from Gujarat Category:Indian women columnists Category:21st-century translators Category:Translators to Gujarati Category:Indian women magazine editors Category:20th-century Indian women poets Category:20th-century Indian women novelists