Narayan Hemchandra

Narayan Hemchandra (1855–1904) was a Gujarati writer, translator and poet who influenced Mohandas K. Gandhi. Gandhi met him in England and described him as a queerly-looking and queerly dressed person, and thought he smelled really bad. but one who was not ashamed of his looks, clothes or poor English. Gandhiji observed in The Story of My Experiments with Truth his great penchant to learn foreign languages to read their literature. He had translated writings of Rabindranath Tagore in Gujarati language as well as written a biography on Prophet Mohammed.

Dharmik Purusho (June 1893), published by Gujarat Vernacular Society contains the life sketches of twelve prophets and saints like Chaitanya, Nanak, Kabir and Ramakrishna.

Hu Pote (1900) was the first autobiography published in Gujarati language though the first autobiography was written by Narmad (published in 1933).