Durga Narayan Bhagwat (10 February 1910 – 7 May 2002), popularly known as Durga Bhagwat, was an Indian scholar, socialist and writer. She studied Sanskrit and Buddhist literature and spent time in the jungles of
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second l ...
to study tribal life. She later returned to
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
as a researcher and wrote books in
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language
Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Mahara ...
. She is arguably the foremost female writer in Marathi. Shes one amongst the prominent writers who opposed
The Emergency (India)
The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution bec ...
. She also abstained from accepting such institutional and civilian honours as the
Padma Shree
Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferre ...
and the
Jnanapeeth.
Early years
Durga Bhagwat was born in 1910 in a
Karhade Brahmin
Karhaḍe Brahmins (also spelled as Karada Brahmins or Karad Brahmins) are a Hindu Brahmin sub-caste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra, but are also distributed in states of Goa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
Classification
Along w ...
family settled in the then princely state of Baroda. The veteran Sanskrit scholar and social activist Rajaram Shastri Bhagwat was the brother of her grandmother. Her sister
Kamala Sohonie went on to become the first woman scientist of India. Her father was a scientist who discovered the procedure of making
ghee
Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals.
Description
Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from ...
from oil.
Durgabai was attracted to Gandhism and took part in Indian freedom movement for a very short time. When she realised that she cannot do it for a longer time she left that and completed her studies from
St. Xavier's College. But she continued to wear Khadi in that period. Her paternal aunt, Seetabai Bhagwat, had a great influence on Durgabai. Durgabai went to Madhya Pradesh for studying tribal culture where she had an
idiosyncratic reaction to yam (Elephant foot) for which she was bed-ridden for six years. She could not complete her doctorate course.
Later years
Durga Bhagwat was elected President of the 51st
Marathi Sahitya Sammelan
Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (All India Marathi Literary Conference) is an annual conference for literary discussions by Marathi writers. Marathi is the official language of Maharashtra State. The first Marathi Sahitya Sammelan was he ...
, held in
Karad
Karad is a city in Satara district of Indian state of Maharashtra and it is 320 km (180.19 miles) from Mumbai and 159 km from Pune. It lies at the confluence of Koyna River and the Krishna River known as the "Priti sangam". T ...
, in 1975.
She was the second woman President of the Sammelan, after
Kusumavati Deshpande since its inception in 1878. Durgabai publicly opposed the state of
Emergency
An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
imposed by
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
and the arrest of
Jaiprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' ( Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for ...
and was jailed by the government. After the emergency was lifted, she campaigned against the ruling
Congress Party in the
1977 general election, and remained opposed to it for the rest of her life. After the Emergency, she was offered an influential government seat by the then ruling
Janata Party
The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...
which she declined. She decided not to accept any state-sponsored honours and declined the
Jnyan Peeth Award.
Before chairing the
Marathi Sahitya Sammelan
Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (All India Marathi Literary Conference) is an annual conference for literary discussions by Marathi writers. Marathi is the official language of Maharashtra State. The first Marathi Sahitya Sammelan was he ...
, she was elected chairperson of the
Tamasgir Meet and considered it a great honour.
Durga Bhagwat never married. Her idols throughout her life had been
Vyasa
Krishna Dvaipayana ( sa, कृष्णद्वैपायन, Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana), better known as Vyasa (; sa, व्यासः, Vyāsaḥ, compiler) or Vedavyasa (वेदव्यासः, ''Veda-vyāsaḥ'', "the one who cl ...
,
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
,
Adi Shankaracharya
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
, American philosopher
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and hi ...
, and Indian writer
Shridhar Venkatesh Ketkar
Shri Shridhar Venkatesh Ketkar (2 February 1884 – 10 April 1937) was a Marathi sociologist, historian and novelist from Maharashtra, India. He is principally known as the chief editor of '' Maharashtriya Jnanakosha'', the first-ever encycloped ...
.
Her contribution
Durga Bhagwat's notable works include a biography of Rajaram Shastri Bhagwat, ''Pais'', a collection of articles based around religions, their literature and practises and ''Vyas Parva'', a book about her study of
Mahabharat
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
. She studied religious literature, particularly Buddhist, works of Marathi saints from
Dnyaneshwar
Sant Dnyaneshwar (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ɲaːn̪eʃʋəɾ, also referred to as Jnaneshwar, Jnanadeva, Dnyandev or Mauli or Dnyaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni (1275–1296), was a 13th-century Indian Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi of ...
to
Tukaram
Sant Tukaram Maharaj (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ukaːɾam was a 17th-century Marathi poet, Hindu ''sant'' (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tukobaraya, Tukoba in Maharashtra. He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya (Marathi-Vaishnav tradition) ...
, major Sanskrit works of Vyas and Adi Shankaracharya. Her book ''RRitu-chakra'', detailing the nature (particularly trees and flowers) in each Indian month, is perhaps her most famous work. During her prolonged recuperation after being food poisoned in Madhya Pradesh, she observed the changes in the nature over the 12-month cycle and spurred her to write articles on each season.
Bhagwat wrote many articles on cooking and crafts and was known as the 'Marathi Saraswatachi Sarswati'.
Selected works
Short stories
* Poorva
Novels
* Mahanadichya tiravar
Children's literature
* Tulshiche lagna
* Vanwasi rajputra
* Chandralekha ani aath chor
Other works
* Loksahityachi ruprekha
* Athavale Tase
* Dharma ani loksahitya
* Vyas parva
* Rupranga
* Pais
* Prasangika
* Doob
* Bhavmudra
* Khamanga
* Satyam Shivam Sundaram
* Ketkaki kadambari
* Rajaram Shastri Bhagwat yanche charitra
* Rutuchakra
* Godhadi
* Dupani
* Nisargotsav
*
* Shodh Ramayanacha
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhagwat, Durga
Marathi-language writers
1910 births
2002 deaths
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Marathi
20th-century Indian poets
Indian women poets
Indian women educational theorists
20th-century Indian educational theorists
20th-century Indian women writers
Women writers from Maharashtra
Writers from Maharashtra
Presidents of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan
Women educators from Maharashtra
Educators from Maharashtra
20th-century women educators