Namdeo Dhasal
| Namdeo Laxman Dhasal | |
|---|---|
| Born |
15 February 1949 Pune, India |
| Died |
15 January 2014 (aged 64) Mumbai, India |
| Occupation | Writer, Poet |
| Language | Marathi |
| Nationality | India |
| Genre | Marathi literature |
| Literary movement | Dalit Panther |
| Notable works |
Andhale Shatak Golpitha Moorkh Mhataryane Tujhi Iyatta Kanchi? Priya Darshini |
| Notable awards |
Padma Shri award Soviet Land Nehru Award Maharashtra State Award Golden Life Time Achievement |
| Spouse | Malika Amar Sheikh |
Namdeo Laxman Dhasal (15 February 1949 – 15 January 2014) was a Marathi poet, writer and Dalit activist from Maharashtra, India. He won the Padma Shri in 1999[1] and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sahitya Akademi in 2004. In 2001, he made a presentation at the first Berlin International Literature Festival.[2]
Biography
Namdeo Dhasal was born in 1949, in a small village Pur in Khed taluk near Pune, India. He and his family moved to Mumbai when he was six. A member of the former Mahar caste, he grew up in dire poverty.[2]
Following the example of the American Black Panther movement, he founded the Dalit Panther with friends in 1972. This militant organization supported its radical political activism with provocative pamphlets.[2]
In 1972, he published his first volume of poetry, Golpitha. More poetry collections followed: Moorkh Mhataryane (By a Foolish Old Man) --inspired by Maoist thoughts--; Tujhi Iyatta Kanchi? (How Educated Are You?); erotic Khel; and Priya Darshini (about the former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi).
Dhasal wrote two novels, and also published pamphlets such as Andhale Shatak (Century of Blindness) and Ambedkari Chalwal (Ambedkarite Movement), which was a reflection on the socialist and communist concepts of modernist movement founder Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Later, he published two more collections of his poetry: Mi Marale Suryachya Rathache Sat Ghode (I Killed the Seven Horses of the Sun), and Tujhe Boat Dharoon Mi Chalalo Ahe (I'm Walking, Holding Your Finger).
Dhasal wrote columns for the Marathi daily Saamana. Earlier, he worked as an editor for the weekly Satyata.[3]
Dhasal was diagnosed with colon cancer and admitted for treatment in a Mumbai hospital in September 2013.
Activist
In 1982, cracks began to appear in the Panther movement. Ideological disputes gained the upper hand and eclipsed the common goal. Dhasal wanted to engender a mass movement and widen the term Dalit to include all oppressed people, but the majority of his comrades insisted on maintaining the exclusivity of their organization.
Serious illness and alcohol addiction of Dhasal overshadowed the following years, during which he wrote very little. In the 1990s, he once again became politically more active.
Dhasal held a national office in the Indian Republican Party, which was formed by the merger of all Dalit parties.
Literary style
The Dalit literature tradition is old, though the term "Dalit literature" was introduced only in 1958. Dhasal was greatly inspired by the work of Baburao Bagul, who employed photographic realism to draw attention to the circumstances which those deprived of their rights from birth have to endure. Dhasal’s poems broke away from stylistic conventions. He included in his poetry many words and expressions which only the Dalits normally used. Thus, in Golpitha he adapted his language to that of the red light milieu, which shocked middle class readers.
The establishment’s assessment of Dhasal’s political, as opposed to his artistic achievements may differ drastically, but for the writer they are inextricably linked. In an interview in 1982 he said that if the aim of social struggles was the removal of unhappiness, then poetry was necessary because it expressed that happiness vividly and powerfully. Later he stated, "Poetry is politics." Dhasal adheres to this principle in his private life. He told the photographer Henning Stegmüller, "I enjoy discovering myself. I am happy when I am writing a poem, and I am happy when I am leading a protest of prostitutes fighting for their rights."
Arundhati Subrahmaniam describes his poetry thus: "Dhasal is a quintessentially Mumbai poet. Raw, raging, associative, almost carnal in its tactility, his poetry emerges from the underbelly of the city — its menacing, unplumbed netherworld. This is the world of pimps and smugglers, of crooks and petty politicians, of opium dens, brothels and beleaguered urban tenements."
Works
Poetry
- Golpitha (1973)
- Tuhi Iyatta Kanchi (1981)
- Khel (1983)
- Moorkh Mhataryane dongar halvle
- Amchya itihasatil ek aprihary patra : Priya Darshini (1976)
- Ya Sattet Jiv Ramat Nahi (1995)
- Gandu Bagichha (1986)
- Mi Marale Suryachya Rathache Sat Ghode
- Tuze Boat Dharoon Mi Chalalo Ahe
Dilip Chitre translated a selection of Dhasal's poems into English under the title Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld, Poems 1972–2006.[4][5]]
Prose
- Ambedkari Chalwal (1981)
- Andhale Shatak (1997)
- Hadki Hadavala
- Ujedachi Kali Dunia
- Sarva Kahi Samashtisathi
- Buddha Dharma: Kahi Shesh Prashna
Awards and honors
Following table shows list of awards won by Namdeo Dhasal.
| Year | Award | For |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Maharashtra State Award for literature | Literature |
| 1974 | ||
| 1982 | ||
| 1983 | ||
| 1974 | Soviet Land Nehru Award | Golpitha |
| 1999 | Padma Shri | Literature |
| 2004 | Sahitya Akademi's Golden Life Time Achievement[6][7] |
Personal life
Dhasal was married to Malika Amar Sheikh, the daughter of poet Amar Sheikh. Ashutosh is Dhasal's son.
Death
Dhasal died of colorectal cancer at Bombay Hospital on 15 January 2014.[8]
References
- ↑ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
- 1 2 3 "Voice of the oppressed". 7 February 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
- ↑ "International Literature Festival website – Namdeo Dhasal".
- ↑ Namdeo Dhasal by Dilip Chitre
- ↑ Chitre, D. (tr.) (2006) Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld, Poems 1972–2006, Navayana Publishing, New Delhi, ISBN 81-89059-10-6
- ↑ 1 November 2004 Sahitya Akademi website.
- ↑ Namdeo Dhasal, a special Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee award The Hub -Tehelka, 23 October 2004.
- ↑ "Marathi poet Namdeo Dhasal dead". The Hindu. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
External links
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