Atmaram Raoji Deshpande ( mr, आत्माराम रावजी देशपांडे) (1901–8 may 1982) 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 from

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a Proposed states and union territories of India#Maharashtra, proposed state of central India, comprising th ...

region of

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 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 wrote poems under the pen name ''Anil'' (अनिल). He was born on 11 September 1901 at Murtijapur in Akola district of Central India. He was married to Kusum Jayawant in 1929; she took the name Kusumavati Deshpande and was also a Marathi writer. Deshpande introduced free style --''Muktachhand'' (मुक्तछंद)-- poetry to Marathi literature. He also introduced in Marathi ''Dashapadi'' (दशपदी), a new genre of sonnets comprising ten lines. His collection of poems with the same name ''Dashapadi'' (दशपदी) received a ''

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

'' in 1977. He was elected for

Sahitya Akademi Fellowship The Sahitya Akademi Fellowship is a literary honour in India bestowed by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.Quote: "In his acceptance speech when India's National Academy of Letters (Sahitya Akademi) in 1997 conferred its h ...

in 1979. He presided over ''

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 h ...

'' (मराठी साहित्य सम्मेलन) at

Malvan Malvan (also written as Malwan) is a town and ''taluka'' in Sindhudurg District, the southernmost district of Maharashtra State, India, well known for the historically important Sindhudurg Fort. Malvan ''taluka'' consists of villages such as ...

in 1958. Deshpande won several international honors. He was a member of the committee of literacy experts of UNESCO. He was leader of Indian delegation of literary experts to

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. He was awarded

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

fellowship for studying social education schemes in various countries. A collection of letters between Deshpande and his wife was published under the title Kusumanil (कुसुमानिल) in 1976.

Works

The following are the titles of collections of Deshpande's poems: * ''Phulwat'' (फुलवात) (1932) * ''Bhagnamoorti'' (भग्नमूर्ति) (1940) * ''Nirwasit Chini Mulas'' (निर्वासित चिनी मुलास) (1943) * ''Perte Vha'' (पेर्ते व्हा)(1947) * ''Sangati'' (सांगाती) (1961) * ''Dashapadi'' (दशपदी) (1976)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deshpande, Atmaram Raoji Marathi-language poets 1901 births 1982 deaths Marathi-language writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Marathi Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship People from Akola district 20th-century Indian poets Indian male poets Poets from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian male writers Presidents of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan