Vijaygupta Maurya was a pioneering science writer in the Gujarati Language

Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

. He was born as Vijayshankar Morarji Vasu in Porbandar, India in 1909 and has written thousands of articles popularizing science as well as several books.

Early life

Vijaygupta Maurya completed his high school education at Bhavsingh High School in Porbandar, India. He studied law in Mumbai, India and returned to Porbandar in 1933 to start his law practice. Four years later he took a position as judge in a British court. However, due to his passion for bird watching he wrote regular articles for Prakruti magazine on birds.

Transition Point

In 1944, the freedom fighter in British India named Dr. Vasant Avsare came to Porbandar and asked Vijaygupta Maurya to fight for his case. However, as Vijaygupta Maurya was already at the position of judge, he could not do so. This prompted Vijaygupta Maurya to resign from his position and took Dr. Avsare's case as a regular lawyer. This ended Vijaygupta Maurya's career as judge and he decided to stay in Mumbai. He found a job as a typist for the salary of Rs. 0.75 per month at Gordhandas's Pedhi .

Career as Journalist and Writer

In between financial struggles he kept writing for Prakruti magazine. After a few years, he got an opportunity to write for the Gujarati newspaper Janmabhumi

Janmabhumi

Janmabhumi Newspaper is an Indian daily newspaper founded in 1977, published in a broadsheet format and owned by Matruka Pracharanalayam Ltd.The paper's Managing Director is Kummanam Rajashekharan.The paper's editor in chief is Hari S. Kartha....

. He started writing articles about birds and other animals for the last page of Janambhumi Pravasi with limited space and eventually grew to become editor/writer of entire page and wrote on varied subjects from the universe, science, marine life, plant life and so on.

Later years

In 1973, he left Janmabhumi Pravasi and became a freelance journalist writing for various magazines. He also wrote several books during that time that included the theme of serving interesting factual information rolled up in stories as well as other books based on true stories. His career as a writer spanned over 46 years, however it didn't helped him much financially. During later years he encountered several physical problems including poor vision, continuous back pain and Parkinson's disease. After a long illness he died in July, 1992.

Next Generation

Vijaygupta Maurya's son, Nagendra Vijay

Nagendra Vijay

Nagendra Vijay is an Indian science writer in Gujarati language. He is son of pioneering journalist and science writer Vijaygupta Maurya. He founded the first science magazines in Gujarati language Scope have written several books and currently plays the role of Editor-in-Chief of Safari magazine...

, has accepted similar goals and career as his father. Nagendra Vijay started writing at the age of 14 and pioneered the first Gujarati science magazine Scope and later Safari magazine

Safari magazine

Safari is a monthly Gujarati popular science and general knowledge magazine published by Harshal Publications, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. The editor of this periodical is Harshal Pushkarna and the publisher is Nagendra Vijay. Apart from popular science articles, the magazine also contains...

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Vijaygupta Maurya's grandson Harshal Pushkarna has also continued work on spreading science and knowledge by currently running Safari magazine

Safari magazine

Safari is a monthly Gujarati popular science and general knowledge magazine published by Harshal Publications, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. The editor of this periodical is Harshal Pushkarna and the publisher is Nagendra Vijay. Apart from popular science articles, the magazine also contains...

among other activities.