World Marathi Day Celebrates today

World Marathi Day Celebrates today

An eminent Marathi poet Vishnu Vāman Shirwadkar Known as Kusumagraj’s birthday is celebrated as World Marathi Day. He was born on 27th February, 1912 in Pune, Maharashtra. He spent most of his life in Nashik, Maharashtra and  his primary education was in Pimpalgaon and high school education was in New English School, Nashik, which is now called as J.S. Rungtha High School of Nashik.

He was a Marathi poet and novelist, short story writer, apart from being a humanist, who wrote of freedom, justice and emancipation of the deprived, in a career spanning five decades starting in pre-independence era. And he wrote 16 volumes of poems and three novels, 8 volumes of short stories, 7 volumes of essays, 18 plays and 6 one-act plays.  His works like the Vishaka (1942), a collection of lyrics, inspired a generation into the Indian freedom movement, and is today considered as one of the masterpieces of Indian literature. Natsamrat which has important place in Marathi literature. He received several  state  awards and National awards including the 1974 Sahitya Akademi Award in Marathi for Natsamrat, and the Jnanpith Award in 1988. He was also elected as the chairperson of the World Marathi Conference in 1989. As a  20 years youth , Shirwadkar participated in a nonviolent resistance march satyagraha- in support  "untouchable" (Harijan) community. In the past  the priests had not allowed free temple access to that community under the Hindu caste system. Throughout his life, he either participated in or led many movements in Nashik to counter social or political injustice of some or other kind. He published his first collection of poems, Jeevanlahari was published. Soon he also got involved with Marathi cinema in Nashik  as he wrote a script for a mythological film, Sati Sulochana in which he also acted. He also worked in journalism for while, before coming back to poetry as a mainstay. 1942 was the turning point in the career of Kusumagraj, as a father-figure of Marathi literature, Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, published Kusumgraj's compilation of poetry, Vishakha at his own expense, and in his preface describing Kusumagraj as a poet of humanity, wrote. After 1943, he started adapting the plays by literary giants like Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Maurice Maeterlinck and Shakespeare, especially his tragedies, and which played an important role in boosting Marathi theatre of the period. This continued into the 1970s when his masterpiece Natasamrat was first staged in 1970, with Sriram Lagoo as the lead. In 1950 he founded in Nasik an Organization for Social Good --Lokahitawādi Mandal. While temperamentally he ranged from reclusive to exclusive, he had a keen social sense and championed the cause of the downtrodden without jumping himself into ground level activities. But his main claim to fame was his genius as a poet and writer. In 1954, he adapted Shakespeare's Macbeth, as Rajmukut, 'The Royal Crown' to Marathi, it starred Nanasaheb Phatak and Durga Khote (Lady Macbeth) and later he also adapted Othello in 1960 He also worked as a lyricist in Marathi cinema.and he died on 10 March,1999 in Nashik Maharshtra

By: Mohammed Anas Guru