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The name Govind Vidyarthi is familiar to many scholars of South Asian music only as the author of two translated chapters of the Urdu manuscript Ma'dan ul-Musiqi published in the Sangeet Natak Akademi Bulletin in the late 1950s (Vidyarthi 1959a, 1959b). His identity and background, not to mention how he came to publish these translations, is a mystery to most, and I have even heard some scholars suggest that an unnamed Muslim must have done the translations credited to Vidyarthi. Yet, Govind Vidyarthi did indeed do his own translating, and his life journey, as a linguist, Communist Party member, freedom fighter, archivist, and scholar, is worth remembering.
The man who eventually took the name Govind Vidyarthi was born on May 17, 1912, in the village of Palayad in the Cannanore District of Kerala. His family was probably lower-middle class; his first job as a teenager was as a clerk and he faced a struggle in his desire for an education. He became involved with the anti-Brahman and pro-Untouchable movements in Kerala as a young man, which infuriated his father. Following this first involvement in activism, he left home to pursue an education and, in particular, to learn Hindi, and he attended educational institutions in Varanasi and Allahabad. He mastered Hindi, Urdu, and Persian, and it was during these years that he adopted the surname Vidyarthi. Already interested in social justice, he met and worked with other students involved with Communist ideologies and organizations. In 1936, he joined the Communist Party of India.
Between 1936 and 1947, Vidyarthi served as a grass-roots member of the Party. He was particularly active as a member of the editorial staff of a number of publications, including the National Front, hiding the printing equipment in his rooms in Kolkata and regularly dodging the British authorities (the Communist Party of India had been banned in 1934). Between 1940 and 1942, he worked as an underground member, carrying information between Kolkata and the Party headquarters in Mumbai and hiding fugitives from...