Shankarrao Ramchandra Kharat (11 July 1921 – 9 April 2001) 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 * * ...

writer 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.The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Nation
/ref> Kharat was born in Atpadi, the secondary capital of the former

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

of Aundh, now in

Sangli district Sangli district (Marathi pronunciation: aːŋɡli is a district of Maharashtra state in India. Sangli city is the district headquarters. It is bordered by Satara district, Solapur district to the North, Karnataka state to South-East, by Kolh ...

. As an adult, he converted to

Buddhism 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 gra ...

. Kharat was associated with

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 ...

. He served for some years as the vice-chancellor of

Marathwada University Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), formerly Marathwada University, is located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It is named after B. R. Ambedkar, an Indian jurist and political leader. The university was established on 23 A ...

. and as a member of the

Maharashtra Legislative Council The Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad or Maharashtra Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra states and territories of India, state in western India. Location The seat of the Vidhan Parishad is situated at ...

. In his writings, Kharat mainly wrote about the life experiences of people from 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 ...

community.

References

External links

Shankarrao Kharat's literary legacy: Giving words to the Dalit experience in Maharashtra
*Nalini Natarajan, Emmanuel Sampath Nelson, ''Handbook of Twentieth-century Literatures of India'' (1996), p. 368 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kharat 2001 deaths Writers from Maharashtra Kharat, Shankar Ramchandra 1921 births Indian Buddhists People from Sangli Members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Presidents of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan Dalit writers Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University