Prakash Khandge is an Indian academic, researcher and writer based in

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- ...

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 ...

. His specialisation is folk dances of Maharashtra. He is a member of the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and be ...

and he is the founder and head of Lok Kala Academy (Performing folk arts department) of the

University of Mumbai The University of Mumbai is a collegiate university, collegiate, State university (India), state-owned, Public university, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the un ...

. He was president of the 2011 Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Lok Kala Sammelan held at

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 2019, he was a recipient of a

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

for folk arts.

Personal life

Khandge was born in Pimpalgaon a village in

Ahmednagar district Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ is the largest districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical Ahmednagar city is the headquarters of the district. ...

. His father and grandfather were ''kirtankars''. He grew up in an atmosphere surrounded by traditional devotional practices such as the singing of ''kakad arti'' and ''

abhang Abhanga () is a form of devotional poetry sung in praise of the Hindu god Vitthal, also known as Vithoba. The word "abhang" comes from ''a'' for "non-" and ''bhang'' for "ending" or "interrupting", in other words, a flawless, continuous process, in ...

''. He participated in the ''vari'' at age 9. When Khandge was in fourth standard, he relocated to Mumbai's working-class neighbourhood of

Lalbaug Lalbaug or (ISO: Lālbāg) is a neighbourhood in South Bombay in Bombay, the capital of Maharashtra an Indian state. It was once part of the neighbourhood called Girangaon - Mumbai's mill district that is now undergoing gentrification due to the ...

, There he was exposed to folk performing art forms such as Balya dance, Gajnritya, Talwar dandpatte, Zimma phugdya and the like.

Books

* ''Bhandar buka'' * ''Nohe eklyacha khel'' - (autobiography) * ''Khandoba che jagran'' based on his doctoral thesis "''Jagran - Ek vidhinatya: itihas, vangmaya, prayog". * ''Chal mazya payat''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khandge, Prakash Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Writers from Mumbai People from Ahmednagar district Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award