Kusumagraj
Encyclopedia
Vishnu Vāman Shirwādkar (February 27, 1912 – March 10, 1999), popularly known by his pen name, Kusumāgraj , was an eminent Marathi
poet, playwright, 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, he wrote 16 volumes of poems, three novels, eight volumes of short stories, seven volumes of essays, 18 plays and six 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 one of the masterpieces of Indian literature
., apart from his play, Natsamrat which has important place in Marathi literature
. He was the recipient of several State awards, and National awards including the 1974 Sahitya Akademi Award
in Marathi for Natsamrat, and the Jnanpith Award
in 1988; he also remained chairperson of the World Marathi Conference in 1989. He was born in the city of Pune
and spent most of his life in Nashik, Maharashtra
.
on 27 February 1912 as Gajanan Ranganath Shirwadkar. Though later he adopted, the name Vishnu Waman Shirwadkar. 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 passed matriculation from Mumbai University.
-- in support of compelling Brahmin priests in charge of a local prominent temple in Nasik to provide free access to the temple to people who belonged to the suppressed "untouchable" (Harijan
) community. In the past, the priests had not allowed free temple access to that community under the Hindu
caste system, which used to be observed much more vigorously then in India. Throughout his life, he either participated in or led many movements in Nasik to counter social or political injustice of some or other kind.
In his twenties, he published His first collection of poems, Jeevanlahari was published while he in his twenties. 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, "His words manifest the social discontent but retain the optimistic conviction that the old world was giving way to a new one." It came during the Quit India Movement
, and carried the message of freedom and stood against slavery, and soon its words became popular with young men and women; in time it was to become his lasting legacy to Indian literature. 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
.
His work reflected the changing social milieu, from being the reflection of national uprising during Indian freedom struggle and in the post-independence era it got steeped into rising social-consciousness amongst Marathi writers, which marked the advent of modern Dalit literature
.
--a prestigious literary award in India—in recognition of his literary achievements, and in particular his writing of the play, Natasamrat, an adaptation of King Lear
, for which he received Sahitya Akademi Award
in 1974 He received Ram Ganesh Gadkari Award of All India Nātya Parishad in 1985. Pune University conferred on him the honorary degree of D.Litt. in 1986. In 1988, he received Sangeet Nātya Lekhan Award.
He died on March 10, 1999 in Nashik, where his home also served at the office of the 'Kusumāgraj Pratishthān.
Edited Collections of Poems
Collections of Stories
Plays
One-Act Plays
Novels
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
poet, playwright, 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, he wrote 16 volumes of poems, three novels, eight volumes of short stories, seven volumes of essays, 18 plays and six 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 one of the masterpieces of Indian literature
Indian literature
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognized languages....
., apart from his play, Natsamrat which has important place in Marathi literature
Marathi literature
Marathi literature is the body of literature of Marathi, a Sanskrit-derived language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra and written in the Devanagari script.-Early Marathi Literature :...
. He was the recipient of several State awards, and National awards including the 1974 Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
in Marathi for Natsamrat, and the Jnanpith Award
Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
in 1988; he also remained chairperson of the World Marathi Conference in 1989. He was born in the city of Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
and spent most of his life in Nashik, Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
.
Early life and education
He was born in PunePune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
on 27 February 1912 as Gajanan Ranganath Shirwadkar. Though later he adopted, the name Vishnu Waman Shirwadkar. 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
Rungta High School
J. S. Rungta High School, established in 1918, is the oldest present school in Nashik, Maharashtra, India. It is located near Ashok Stambh.-History:The school was established in 1918 as New English School and later became J. S. Rungta High School....
of Nashik. He passed matriculation from Mumbai University.
Career
At age 20, Shirwadkar participated in a nonviolent resistance march --satyagrahaSatyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
-- in support of compelling Brahmin priests in charge of a local prominent temple in Nasik to provide free access to the temple to people who belonged to the suppressed "untouchable" (Harijan
Harijan
Harijan was a term used by Gandhi for Dalits. Gandhi said it was wrong to call people 'untouchable', and called them Harijans, which means children of God...
) community. In the past, the priests had not allowed free temple access to that community under the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
caste system, which used to be observed much more vigorously then in India. Throughout his life, he either participated in or led many movements in Nasik to counter social or political injustice of some or other kind.
In his twenties, he published His first collection of poems, Jeevanlahari was published while he in his twenties. Soon he also got involved with Marathi cinema
Marathi cinema
Marathi cinema refers to films produced in the Marathi language in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is the oldest and pioneer film industry in India...
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
Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar
Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar was an eminent Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.-Early life:...
, published Kusumgraj's compilation of poetry, Vishakha at his own expense, and in his preface describing Kusumagraj as a poet of humanity, wrote, "His words manifest the social discontent but retain the optimistic conviction that the old world was giving way to a new one." It came during the Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
, and carried the message of freedom and stood against slavery, and soon its words became popular with young men and women; in time it was to become his lasting legacy to Indian literature. After 1943, he started adapting the plays by literary giants like Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, Moliere
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
, Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
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
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, as Rajmukut, 'The Royal Crown' to Marathi, it starred Nanasaheb Phatak and Durga Khote
Durga Khote
Durga Khote was an Indian actress, starting as one of the foremost leading ladies of her times, she remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starring in around 200 films and numerous theatre productions....
(Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth may refer to:*Lady Macbeth, from William Shakespeare's play Macbeth**Queen Gruoch of Scotland, the real-life Queen on whom Shakespeare based the character...
) and later he also adapted Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
in 1960 He also worked as a lyricist in Marathi cinema
Marathi cinema
Marathi cinema refers to films produced in the Marathi language in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is the oldest and pioneer film industry in India...
.
His work reflected the changing social milieu, from being the reflection of national uprising during Indian freedom struggle and in the post-independence era it got steeped into rising social-consciousness amongst Marathi writers, which marked the advent of modern Dalit literature
Dalit literature
Dalit Literature, literature about the Dalits, the oppressed class under Indian caste system forms an important and distinct part of Indian literature...
.
Awards and recognition
In 1987, Kusumagraj was presented with the Jnanpith AwardJnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
--a prestigious literary award in India—in recognition of his literary achievements, and in particular his writing of the play, Natasamrat, an adaptation of King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
, for which he received Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
in 1974 He received Ram Ganesh Gadkari Award of All India Nātya Parishad in 1985. Pune University conferred on him the honorary degree of D.Litt. in 1986. In 1988, he received Sangeet Nātya Lekhan Award.
Personal life
He founded an organization named Kusumāgraj Pratishthān was formed in Nasik in 1990 with the objective of encouraging various cultural activities and helping the needy belonging to traditionally suppressed communities. Kusumāgraj birthday is celebrated as World Marathi Day.He died on March 10, 1999 in Nashik, where his home also served at the office of the 'Kusumāgraj Pratishthān.
Writings
Collections of Poems- Vishakha (Year : 1942)
- Himaresha (Year : 1964)
- Chhandomayi (Year : 1982)
- Jeewanalahari (Year : 1933)
- Jaicha Kunja (Year : 1936)
- Samidha (Year : 1947)
- Kinara (Year : 1952)
- Marathi Mati (Year : 1960)
- Wadalwel (Year : 1969)
- Rasayatra (Year : 1969)
- Muktayan (Year : 1984)
- Shrawan (Year : 1985)
- Prawasi Pakshi (Year : 1989)
- Patheya (Year : 1989)
- Meghdoot (Marathi Translation of Kalidas' "Meghdoot", which is in SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
) (Year : 1956) - Swagat (Year : 1962)
- Balbodh Mevyatil Kusumagraj (Year : 1989)
Edited Collections of Poems
- Kāwyawāhini
- Sāhityasuwarna
- Phularāni
- Pimpalapān
- Chandanawel
- Rasyātrā, poems chosen by Shankar Vaidya and Poet BorkarPoet BorkarBalakrishna Bhagwant Borkar was a poet from Goa, India.Bā Bha Borkar, also known as Baki-baab, started writing poems at an early age. Vi Sa Khandekar was an early champion of Borkar's verse. Borkar joined Goa's fight for freedom in 1950s, and moved to Pune, where he worked for radio in 1950s...
, and with a long scholarly introduction by Vaidya.
Collections of Stories
- Phulawāli
- Chhote Āni Mothe
- Satāriche Bol Āni Iter Kathā
- Kāhi Wruddha, Kāhi Tarun
- Prem Āni Mānjar
- Appointment
- Āhe Āni Nāhi
- Wirāmachinhe
- Pratisād
- Ekāki Tārā
- Wātewaralyā Sāwalyā
- Shakespearechyā Shodhāt
- Roopareshā
- Kusumāgrajānchyā Bārā Kathā
- Jādoochi Hodi (for children)
Plays
- Yayāti Āni Dewayāni
- Weeja Mhanāli Dharateelā
- Natasamrāt
- Doorche Diwe
- Dusarā Peshwā
- Waijayanti
- Kounteya
- Rājmukut
- Āmche Nāw Bāburāo
- Widushak
- Ek Hoti Wāghin
- Ānand
- Mukhyamantri
- Chandra Jithe Ugawat Nāhi
- Mahant
- Kaikeyi
One-Act Plays
- Diwāni Dāwā
- Dewāche Ghar
- Prakāshi Dāre
- Sangharsh
- Bet
- Natak Basat Āhe Āni Itar Ekānkikā
Novels
- Waishnawa
- Jānhawi
- Kalpanechyā Teerāwar
Works in translation
- The Saint in the Cellar: selected poems. Tr. by S. A. Virkar. New Native Press, 2003. ISBN 188319718X.
External links
- http://www.kusumagraj.org (MarathiMarathi languageMarathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
website) - http://www.kusumaavali.org (MarathiMarathi languageMarathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
website)