Govind Ballal Deval (1855–1916) was a

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 from Maharashtra, India. Deval was born in 1855 in a village in the

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

region of Maharashtra, but he spent his childhood in Haripur near

Sangli Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks ...

. He attended a high school in Belgaum, where he came in contact with, and was influenced by, playwright/actor Balwant Pandurang Kirloskar, who worked as a teacher in that school. After a late high school graduation in 1879 at age 24, Deval worked for a few years as a teacher in the same school, moved to

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

to finish in 1894 a college course in Agriculture, and worked for a short while as a botany school teacher. An elder brother of Deval was a musician, while another brother was an accomplished actor in ''Ichalkaranjikar Natak Mandali''.

Career

While Deval was in high school in Belgaum, he joined Kirloskar's ''Kirloskar Natak Mandali'' as an actor after its inception around 1875 and soon became an associate play director there. He even composed the lyrics and music of many of the 198 songs in Kirloskar's play ''Shakuntal'' (शाकुंतल), the first half of which was presented to the public in 1880. (Kirloskar presented the complete play the next year.) After Kirloskar's death in 1885, Deval continued to work for a few years at ''Kirloskar Natak Mandali'' as a playwright, an actor, and a play director. After his move to Pune in 1894, he founded ''Aryoddharak Natak Mandali''; and in 1913, three years before his death, he joined

Bal Gandharva Narayan Shripad Rajhans, popularly known as Bal Gandharva, (26 June 1888 – 15 July 1967) was a famous Marathi singer and a stage actor. He was known for his roles in female characters in Marathi plays, since women were not allowed to act on ...

's newly established ''Gandharva Natak Mandali''. Deval's disciples in acting included Bhaurao Kolhatkar, Nanasaheb Joglekar, Ganesh Bodas aka Ganpatrao, Kashinathpant Parchure, and Bal Gandharva, all of whom turned out to be well-known actors in Maharashtra in the early part of the 20th century.

Plays

During 1886–1916, Deval wrote and presented to the public seven plays: * ''Durga'' (दुर्गा) (1886) (An adapted version of

Thomas Southerne Thomas Southerne (12 February 166026 May 1746) was an Irish dramatist. Biography Thomas Southerne, born on 12 February 1660, in Oxmantown, near Dublin, was an Irish dramatist. He was the son of Francis Southerne (a Dublin brewer) and Margar ...

's ''The Fatal Marriage'' (or ''Isabella'')) * ''Mruchchhakatik'' (मृच्छकटिक) (1887) (An adapted version of

Shudrak Shudraka ( IAST: ) was an Indian playwright, to whom three Sanskrit plays are attributed: '' Mrichchhakatika'' (''The Little Clay Cart''), ''Vinavasavadatta'', and a ''bhana'' (short one-act monologue), ''Padmaprabhritaka''.Bhattacharji, Sukumari ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

play with the same name) * ''Vikramorwashiya'' (विक्रमोर्वशीय) (1889) (An adapted of

Kalidas Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...

's play with the same name) * ''Jhunjarrao'' (झुंझारराव) (1890) (An adapted version of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's '' Othello'') * ''Shapa Sambhram'' (शापसंभ्रम) (1893) (An adapted version of Banabhatta's '' Kadambari'') * ''

Sangeet Sharada ''Sangeet Sharada'' is an 1899 Marathi Sangeet Natak (Musical play), written and directed by playwright Govind Ballal Deval. The play is considered as the first play in Marathi to showcase the social problems and broke the norms by dealing with ...

'' (शारदा) (1899) * ''Samshay Kallol'' (संशयकल्लोळ) (1916) (Based partly on

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...

's ''

Sganarelle ''Sganarelle, or The Imaginary Cuckold'' (french: Sganarelle, ou Le Cocu imaginaire) is a one-act comedy in verse by Molière. It was first performed on 28 May 1660 at the Théâtre du Petit-Bourbon in Paris to great success. Molière himself pla ...

''. This play had been presented to the public by ''Gandharva Natak Mandali'' after Deval's death earlier in 1916.)

References

External links

Marathi-language writers 1916 deaths 1855 births {{India-writer-stub