Namdeo Laxman Dhasal (15 February 1949 – 15 January 2014) 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
*
* ...
poet, writer and
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 ...
activist from
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 ...
, India. He was one of the founders of the Dalit Panthers in 1972, a social movement aimed at destroying caste hierarchy in Indian society. The movement was active in the 1970s and the 1980s during which time it popularised the usage of the term dalit in India. Dhasal was awarded the
Padma Shri
Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...
in 1999
and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...
in 2004.
Biography
Namdeo Dhasal was born in 1949, in the village of Pur in
Khed taluka
Khed taluka is a taluka in the subdivision, near Pune, Pune city in Pune district of the state of Maharashtra in India. Rajgurunagar is the headquarter of the taluka. The taluka is known for being the birthplace of Santaji Jagnade.The name of city ...
,
Poona
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, 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 ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. He and his family moved to Mumbai when he was six. A member of the
Mahar
Mahar, meaning "original inhabitants of Maharashtra" (in various languages), is an Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in ...
caste, he grew up in dire poverty.
He was a
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
.
Following the example of the American
Black Panther
A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...
movement, he founded the
Dalit Panther
The Dalit Panthers are a social organisation that seeks to combat caste discrimination. It was led by a group of Mahar writers and poets, including Raja Dhale, Namdeo Dhasal, and J. V. Pawar in some time between the second and the third semes ...
movement with friends in 1972. This social movement worked for the reconstruction of society on the basis of the
Phule,
Shahu, and
Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly of India, Constit ...
movements.
Dhasal wrote columns for the Marathi daily ''
Saamana
''Saamana'' is a Marathi-language newspaper published in Maharashtra, India. The paper was launched on 23 January 1988 by Bal Thackeray, the founder of the Shiv Sena, a local, regional and language driven; political party; in the Indian state o ...
''. Earlier, he worked as an editor for the weekly ''Satyata''.
In 1972, he published his first volume of poetry, ''Golpitha''. More poetry collections followed: ''Moorkh Mhataryane'' (By a Foolish Old Man), inspired by Maoist thoughts; ''Tujhi Iyatta Kanchi?'' (How Educated Are You?); ''Khel''; and ''Priya Darshini,'' about former Indian Prime Minister
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 ...
.
During this time, Dhasal also wrote two novels and published pamphlets such as ''Andhale Shatak'' (Century of Blindness) and ''Ambedkari Chalwal'' (Ambedkarite Movement), a reflection on the socialist and communist concepts of
B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...
.
Later, he published two more collections of poetry: ''Mi Marale Suryachya Rathache Sat Ghode'' (I Killed the Seven Horses of the Sun), and ''Tujhe Boat Dharoon Mi Chalalo Ahe'' (I'm Walking, Holding Your Finger).
In 1977 Dhasal married noted Marathi writer
Malika Amar Sheikh after a brief courtship. However, the marriage was troubled due to Dhasal's alleged domestic violence, alcoholism and problems with debt. In 1981, Dhasal was diagnosed with
myasthenia. Later, he suffered from
colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...
. He was admitted for treatment in a Mumbai hospital in September 2013. He died in 2014 at age 64.
Activism
In 1982, (not 1982 it is 1972 Ref Dalit Panthar Ek Sangharsh by Dhasal Editing suggessin by anil Mhatre ) cracks began to appear in the Dalit Panther movement. Ideological disputes began to eclipse the common goal of liberation. Dhasal wanted to engender a mass movement and widen the term ''Dalit'' to include all oppressed people, but the majority of his comrades insisted on maintaining the exclusivity of their organization.
Dhasal's illness and alcoholism overshadowed the following years, during which he wrote very little. In the 1990s, he became politically active again.
In 2001, he made a presentation at the first
Berlin International Literature Festival
The Berlin International Literature Festival (german: internationales literaturfestival berlin) or ''ilb'' is an annual event based in Berlin. Every September, the festival presents contemporary poetry, prose, nonfiction, graphic novels and inte ...
.
Dhasal was one of the founding members and part of the 10-member national presidium of the
Republican Party of India
The Republican Party of India (RPI, often called the Republican Party or simply Republican) is a political party in India. It has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. The 'Training School for Entrance to Polit ...
, which was formed under leadership of
Babasaheb Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...
in 1952 by merger of all leading Dalit parties.
Literary style
Arundhati Subrahmaniam describes his poetry: "Dhasal is a quintessentially Mumbai poet. Raw, raging, associative, almost carnal in its tactility, his poetry emerges from the underbelly of the city — its menacing, unplumbed netherworld. This is the world of pimps and smugglers, of crooks and petty politicians, of opium dens, brothels and beleaguered urban tenements."
Works
Poetry
English
*''A Current of Blood'' (2019), Narayana Publishers
Hindi
*''Aakrosh Kaa Kooras'' (2015)
Marathi
*''Golpitha'' (1973)
*''Tuhi Iyatta Kanchi'' (1981)
*''Khel'' (1983)
*''Moorkh Mhataryane dongar halvle''
*''Amchya itihasatil ek aprihary patra : Priya Darshini'' (1976)
*''Ya Sattet Jiv Ramat Nahi'' (1995)
*''Gandu Bagichha'' (1986)
*''Mi Marale Suryachya Rathache Sat Ghode''
*''Tuze Boat Dharoon Mi Chalalo Ahe''
Dilip Chitre
Dilip Purushottam Chitre (17 September 1938 – 10 December 2009) was one of the foremost Indian poets and critics to emerge in the post Independence India. Apart from being a notable bilingual writer, writing in Marathi and English, he was also ...
translated a selection of Dhasal's poems into English under the title ''Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld, Poems 1972–2006''.
Prose
*''Ambedkari Chalwal'' (1981)
*''Andhale Shatak'' (1997)
*''Hadki Hadavala''
*''Ujedachi Kali Dunia''
*''Sarva Kahi Samashtisathi''
*''Buddha Dharma: Kahi Shesh Prashna''
Awards and honors
The following table shows list of awards won by Namdeo Dhasal.
Personal life
Dhasal was married to
Malika Amar Sheikh, the daughter of poet
Amar Sheikh. They had one son, Ashutosh.
Death
Dhasal died of colorectal cancer at Bombay Hospital on 15 January 2014.
References
External links
An essay on Namdeo Dhasal, 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhasal, Namdeo
Marathi-language writers
1949 births
2014 deaths
Indian male poets
Marathi-language poets
Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education
Dalit activists
Dalit writers
20th-century Indian poets
Poets from Maharashtra
People from Pune
Activists from Maharashtra
Republican Party of India politicians
20th-century Indian male writers
20th-century Buddhists
21st-century Buddhists
Social workers from Maharashtra
Converts to Buddhism from Hinduism
Indian Buddhists
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award