Hari Narayan Apte

Hari Narayan Apte Biography

Hari Narayan Apte was a noted writer of Marathi language from Maharashtra whose works belong to the latest decade of 19^th century and early 20^th century. His fiction works have given new direction to Marathi novels as well as short stories. They were related to society and true reflection to its existing culture, at a time when fantasy novels with unrelated facts and incidents were published most. Apte presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Akola in 1912. Apte was also a social worker and for his contributions as a volunteer to plague epidemic in India presented him Kaiser-i-Hind medal by British Government. He has also served as a mayor of Pune municipality and his similar works earned big appreciation.

Apte was born in 1864 in the town of Parole in Maharashtra. Later the family shifted to Mumbai and Pune. He got married at the age of 15 and his wife died when he was 27. Later he remarried. He was very much influenced by social and political leaders in Maharashtra during that time. Though Apte joined Deccan College in 1883, he shifted to Fergusson College when it was newly started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar. Though he was brilliant in all subjects, he couldn’t handle mathematics and ended studies without a degree after attempting 3 years. But he was proficient in reading Marathi, Sanskrit and English languages.

In 1882, when his teacher Gopal Ganesh Agarkar published a translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet into Marathi, titled Wikar Wilasita, Apte wrote a 72-page critique of the translation. It got published in Nibandh Chandrika and Agarkar appreciated Apte’s work with full heart. His first novel Madhali Sthiti was published during his college days. Mhaisuracha Wagh was Apte's first historical novel. Apte wrote eight novels concerning contemporary society and ten historic novels. The Marathi weekly Karamanuk was founded by him in 1890.

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Updated: January 27, 2014