Ram Ganesh Gadkari

Ram Ganesh Gadkari Biography

Ram Ganesh Gadkari was a prominent writer of Marathi literature. He was known as a poet, playwright, and humorist. He wrote poetry under the pen name, Govindagraj, used the pen name Balakram for humorous articles and plays under his real name. He lived in a short life span of 35 years and many of his works remained unfinished. His finished plays are Ekach Pyala, Prema Sanyas, Bhava Bandhan and Punyaprabhav. His unfinished plays include - Garva Nirvan, Wedyancha Bajar and Raj Sanyas. His collection of humorous articles was published under the title, Balakram and poetry collections with the name, Vagvaijayanti.  Thane Municipal Council constructed Rangayatan in 1979, a drama theatre, named after Shri Ram Ganesh Gadkari. Gadkari's statue has been installed in Sambhaji Park of Pune.

Gadkari was born on May 24, 1885 in the town of Ganadevi in Gujarat. He was born in a poor family and his father died too early. He could complete his school education only when he was 19. Though he enrolled at Fergusson College, Pune, he left his studies in the middle to take teaching as profession. Till 19 years of his age, he was unable to speak Marathi. But there on, he started reading Marathi, English and Sanskrit literature seriously. He also did a detailed study of many plays written by prominent figures like Shakespeare and Kalidas. Gadkari married twice. But both the relations proved dissatisfactory.

Gadkari’s contribution to Marathi literature includes - four complete plays, three unfinished plays, 150 poems, and some humorous articles. Just a few hours before his death on January 23, 1919, he completed the play, Bhava Bandhan. As per critics’ opinion, all his works were really intelligent and own a special place in Marathi literature. Celebrated playwright, Vijay Tendulkar considers Gadkari as the greatest poet-dramatist in any Indian language after Kalidas.

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Updated: June 16, 2017