Datta Ganpat Bhagat (born 13 June 1945 in Waghi village of

Nanded district Nanded district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːn̪d̪eɖ is a districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in central India. The city of Nanded is the district headquarters. Officer Members of Parliament *Prataprao ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

) is an Indian

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Ambedkarite Ambedkarism is called as the teaching, ideology or philosophy of B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian econonist, polymath, barrister, social reformer, human-rights advocate, and the architect of Indian Constitution. Ambedkarism includes the principles of Nava ...

thinker and one of the leaders of the

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

theater movement in Marathi. He is a professor of

at the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in

Aurangabad Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is th ...

. His play ''Avart'' (whirlpool) was critically acclaimed for its use of the traditional forms of dindi and

tamasha Tamasha ( mr, तमाशा) is a traditional form of Marathi theatre, often with singing and dancing, widely performed by local or travelling theatre groups within the state of Maharashtra, India."Tamasha", in James R. Brandon and Martin Banham ...

to reflect on Dalit oppression against the background of a pilgrimage to

Pandharpur Pandharpur (Pronunciation: əɳɖʱəɾpuːɾ is a well known pilgrimage town, on the banks of Candrabhagā River, near Solapur city in Solapur District, Maharashtra, India. Its administrative area is one of eleven tehsils in the District, ...

. His long plays like Ashmak, Khelia were liked by most of his senior critics and was successfully produced. His other play ''Wata Palwata'' (Routes and Escapes) is also well known and included in the collection of Indian plays Drama Contemporary by Erin B Mee. It is considered to be 'a milestone in Marathi theater'. He is also noted for his literary criticism, particularly the essay ''Dalit chetna aur Marathi Dalit Rangmanch'' (Dalit consciousness and Marathi Dalit theater). Datta Bhagat was selected as the President of the 37th Marathwada Sahitya Sammelan of Marathwada Sahitya Parishad.

References

1945 births Living people Indian male dramatists and playwrights People from Nanded district 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights People from Marathwada Dramatists and playwrights from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian male writers Indian Buddhists Marathi-language writers 20th-century Buddhists {{playwright-stub