Marathi literature

Marathi literature is the body of literature of

The earliest Marathi-only inscriptions are the ones issued during the Shilahara rule, including a c. 1012 CE stone inscription from Akshi taluka of Raigad district, and a 1060 or 1086 CE copper-plate inscription from Dive that records a land grant (agrahara) to a Brahmin.^[3] A 2-line 1118 CE Marathi inscription at Shravanabelagola records a grant by the Hoysalas. These inscriptions suggest that Marathi was a standard written language by the 12th century. However, there is no record of any actual literature produced in Marathi until the late 13th century.^[3]

Yadava period

Epigraphic evidence suggests that Marathi was a standard written language by the 12th century. However, the earliest records of actual literature in Marathi appear only in the late 13th century.^[4] The early Marathi literature emerged during the Seuna (Yadava) rule, because of which some scholars have theorized that it was produced with support from the Yadava rulers.^[5] The Yadavas did regard Marathi as a significant language for connecting with the general public,^[6] and Marathi replaced Kannada and Sanskrit as the dominant language of the inscriptions during the last half century of the Yadava rule.^[7] However, there is no evidence that the Yadava royal court directly supported the production of Marathi literature with state funds.^[8]

The early Marathi literature was mostly religious and philosophical in nature,^[9] and was composed by the saint-poets belonging to Mahanubhava and Warkari sects. During the reign of the last three Yadava kings, a great deal of literature in verse and prose, on astrology, medicine, Puranas, Vedanta, kings and courtiers were created. Nalopakhyana, Rukminiswayamvara and Shripati's Jyotisharatnamala (1039) are a few examples.

Bhaskarabhatta Borikar of the Mahanubhava sect is the first known poet to have composed hymns in Marathi.^[10]

Namdev, the Bhakti saint and contemporary of Dnyaneshwar is the other significant literary figure from this era. Namdev composed religious songs in Marathi as well as Hindi; some of his Hindi compositions are included in the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib.

Another early Marathi writer was

Krista Purana, written by the Goa-based Christian missionary Thomas Stephens, was first published in 1616. It is written in a mix of Marathi and Konkani languages, and the first copy was printed in the Roman script, and tells the story of Jesus Christ.^[13]

Maratha period

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The

In the 18th century, several well-known works like Yatharthadeepika (by Vaman Pandit), Naladamayanti Swayamvara (by Raghunath Pandit),^[15][16] Pandava Pratap, Harivijay, Ramvijay (by Shridhar Pandit) and Mahabharata (translation by Moropant) were produced. The historical section of the old Marathi literature contained the Bakhars and the Katavas. Krishna Dayarnava and Sridhar were other leading poets during the Peshwa rule.^[9] Mahipati, the author who wrote the biographies of the Bhakti Saints also belonged to this era.^[17]

British Period

The British colonial period saw standardisation of Marathi grammar through the efforts of the Christian missionary William Carey. Carey's dictionary had fewer entries and Marathi words were in Devanagari script instead of the Modi script prevalent at that time.^[18] Carey also translated the new and old testament of the bible into Marathi in 1811 and 1820 respectively.^[19] The most comprehensive Marathi-English dictionaries was compiled by Captain James Thomas Molesworth and Major Thomas Candy in 1831. The book is still in print nearly two centuries after its publication.^[9][20] The colonial authorities also worked on standardizing Marathi under the leadership of Molesworth. They used Brahmins of Pune for this task and adopted the Sanskrit dominated dialect spoken by this caste in the city as the standard dialect for Marathi.^[21] The Christian missionaries introduced the Western forms to the Marathi literature. ^{[note 1]}

Marathi at this time was efficiently aided by Marathi Drama. Here, there also was a different genre called 'Sangit Natya' or Musicals. The first play was V.A. Bhave's Sita Swayamvar in 1843. Later Kirloskar (1843–85) and G.B. Deval (1854-1916) brought a romantic aroma and social content. But Krishnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar (1872-1948) with his banned play Kichaka-Vadh (1910) set the trend of political playwriting. These were followed by stalwarts like

On January 6, 1832, Balshastri Jambhekar of the Elphinstone College began Darpan, the first Marathi-English fortnightly magazine.^[23]

On 24 October 1841, Govind Vithal Kunte began Prabhakar. Kunte was the first professional Marathi journalist. Prabhakar eulogised Indian art and culture. American missionaries started a marathi magazine called

On 4 January 1881,

Present times (1947- till now )

Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar (1889–1976)'s Yayati won him the Jnanpith Award for 1975. He also wrote many other novels, short stories, essays etc. His major works are Don Dhruv (Two Poles), Ulka (Meteorite), Krounchavadh, Jalalela Mohar, Amrutvel.

Marathi drama flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, with literary figures like Vasant Kanetkar, Kusumagraj and Vijay Tendulkar.

The major paradigm shift ^[

During this period, Maharshtra's traditional form of theatre 'Tamasha' saw rise of Bashir Momin Kavathekar, a prominent poet & writer who wrote Lavani & Vag-Natya for entertainment of rural masses. However, his folk songs on the prevailing social issues like dowry, female foeticide, alcohol addiction, superstition helped in increased social awareness whereas his short-plays, street-plays promoted government initiatives towards sanitation, literacy, water conservation missions.^{[26][27][28][29]}

Another major shift sensibility began in the nineties with the poems and criticism of Shridhar Tilve and the poetry of poets associated with Saushthav, Abhidhanantar and Shabadavedh. In the post nineties, this 'new little magazine movement' gained momentum and poets like Shridhar Tilve who stood against postmodernism and nativism and poets like Manya Joshi, Hemant Divate, Sachin Ketkar, Mangesh Narayanrao Kale, Saleel Wagh, Mohan Borse, Nitin Kulkarni, Nitin Arun Kulkarni, Varjesh Solanki, Sandeep Deshpande, Vasant Gurjar who touched the new areas of post-modern life. The poetry collections brought out by Abhidhanantar Prakashan, Time and Space, Popular Prakashan, Navta Prakashan and the regular issues of the magazine Abhidhanantar and IRREGULAR issues of Saushthav, Shabdvedh are taking Marathi poetry to the global standards.^{[citation needed]} Another leading wave in contemporary Marathi poetry is the poetry of new dalit wave poets like Arun Kale, Bhujang Meshram and new deshi wave poets like Pravin Bandekar, Shrikant Deshmukh and Veerdhaval Parab.

Science fiction

Marathi science fiction has a rich heritage and a wide enthusiastic readership. In the early 20th century, Marathi science fiction work was more aligned to fantasy. After 1950, several writers started translating classic English science fiction literature and also contributed independent work.^{[citation needed]}

The modern Marathi science fiction took off after technology started playing a major role in providing a rich context for speculating about the future. From 1975, modern Marathi science fiction has been regularly published in mainstream magazines and also in publications devoted to science and technology.^{[citation needed]}

Marathi Vidnyan Parishad has been consistently at the forefront for modern Marathi science fiction, contributing through multiple channels – publications, translations, critique, writing workshops, and its annual science fiction competition.^{[30][self-published source?]} Many modern writers have emerged from this prestigious competition running uninterrupted since 1970.The first wave of writers includes B R Bhagwat, D P Khambete, Narayan Dharap, D B Mokhashi, Gajanan Kshirsagar, and Yashawant Ranjankar. The modern writers are: Jayant Narlikar, Bal Phondke, Niranajan Ghate, Lakshman Londhe, Subodh Jawdekar, Arun Mande, Madhuri Shanbhag, Shubhada Gogate, Sanjay Dhole, D V Kulkarni, Arun Sadhu, Meghashri Dalvi, Sudha Risbud, Smita Potnis, Prasanna Karandikar, Ashish Mahabal, D V Jahagirdar, Yashawant Deshpande.^{[citation needed]}

Encyclopedia

Over the last century or so, a number of producing encyclopedias have been produced in marathi. These include .

Laxmanshastri Joshi's 'Dharmakosh' and 'Marathi Vishwakosh

'.

Dalit Literature

Main article: Dalit literature § Dalit literature in Maharashtra

It was in 1958, that the term "Dalit literature" was used for the first time, when the first conference of Maharashtra Dalit Sahitya Sangha (Maharashtra Dalit Literature Society) was held at

Bhimrao Ambedkar.^[31]

Daya Pawar, Annabhau Sathe, Laxman Mane, Laxman Gaikwad, Sharankumar Limbale, Bhau Panchbhai, Kishor Shantabai Kale, Narendra Jadhav, and Urmila Pawar.^{[36][37][38][39]}

Awards

Four Marathi writers have been honored with the Jnanpith Award:^[40]

• Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar
• Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar (Kusumagraj)
• Vinda Karandikar
• Bhalchandra Nemade

Every year, Sahitya Akademi gives the Sahitya Akademi Award to Marathi writers for their outstanding contribution to Marathi literature.^[41] See the List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for Marathi.

See also

• Geet Ramayan
• Marathi people
• Marathi Christians
• Marathi Buddhists
• List of Marathi-language authors

Notes

1. ^ According to Hartmut Scharte, Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit, University of California, Los Angeles, USA vide his book "A History of Indian Literature - Grammatical Literature", the author of the first Marathi Grammar was Venkata Madhava, who was a lecturer in Fort St. George College, Madras (now Chennai). Venkata Madhava's three works on Marathi (as was spoken by the then large Maratha colony of Tanjore) exist only in the autographs of the author or his assistant Bhima Pandita. His Marathi Grammar book "महाराष्ट्र प्रयोग चंद्रिका" was written cir. 1827. It has 227 sutras in Samskrt and is accompanied by a Samskrt commentary, a Marathi commentary and Marathi illustrations. The Samskrt section is written in Devnagari script and the Marathi in Modi script. The grammar which generally follows the Siddhanta Kaumudi in its design, was probably meant to introduce Marathi to the neighbouring Tamil speakers.

References

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6. ^ Christian Lee Novetzke 2016, p. x.
7. ^ Christian Lee Novetzke 2016, p. 53.
8. ^ Christian Lee Novetzke 2016, p. 74.
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Bibliography

• ISBN 978-0-231-54241-8
  .
• M. K. Nadkarni (1921). A short history of Marathi literature. Luhana Mitra Steam Printing Press, Baroda. (PDF form)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marathi-language literature.

• Marathi Literature in the Twenty-first Century: An Overview
• A Brief Introduction to New Marathi Poetry on Poetry International Web
• Globalization and New Marathi Poetry
• Devotional Aartis of Maharashtra
• Marathi Poetry in the Early Twentieth Century
• Marathi Literature of Maharashtra
• Contemporary Marathi Writers
• Sachin Ketkar's article on Brief History of Marathi poetry in past one hundred years
• Longest Marathi Poem “Aani Maza Buddha Bolala” 2000+ Line World Records India by Prof.Jyoti Dhondiram Pandit (Dhutmal)