Pralhad Keshav Atre (Acharya Atre)

Pralhad Keshav Atre

(Acharya Atre)

Pralhad Keshav Atre also famous as Acharya Atre is one of the most influential personalities from 20^th century Maharashtra. He has left his imprints and lasting impression in various fields such as literature, education, film-making, journalism, politics and oratory.

He was born on 13 August 1898 in Saswad. Saswad is a place in Pune district. Acharya Atre has written his Autobiography titled ‘Karheche Paani’. Karha is a river which flowed from the birth village of Acharya Atre.

Acharya Atre was a highly qualified person. He completed his education from Saswad, Pune City, Bombay and London. He had worked as a teacher and headmaster in the schools in Pune before migrating to Bombay. In Bombay city he was mainly associated with the fields of journalism and theatre.

We have already mentioned that Acharya Atre has contributed in the filed of literature. He was a playwright, poet, biographer. He had also written the travelogues and obituaries.

Some of the famous plays written by him are- Gharabaher, Udyacha Sansar, Brhamacha Bhopla, Lagnachi Bedi, To Mi Navhech, etc.

Few other famous books written by Acharya Atre are- Hasha Aani Talya, Kelyane Deshatan, Samadhivaril Ashru, Atre Uvach, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehrunvaril Suryast, Mahatma Phule, etc.

There are many other literary works created by Acharya Atre. He is considered as one of the most influential writers of all time in Marathi language. As mentioned above he handled various genres of literature very easily. He has influenced generations of writers and orators with his writings and oratory.

He started and edited a newspaper in Marathi language titled ‘Maratha’. This newspaper played an important role in Samyukta Maharashtra Movement.

His many plays were staged and performed which became very popular among the audience. He produced films titled ‘Shyamchi Aai’ and ‘Mahatma Phule’. Both these films won the President’s Medal (The President of India).

He had presided over the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, Natya Sammelan, Marathi Patrakar Sammelan among others.

Acharya Atre had greatly contributed in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement. It was the Movement for the creation of state of Maharashtra for Marathi speaking people with Bombay as its capital.

In order to achieve the goal of creation of state of Maharashtra an organisation called as the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti. It was established in 1956. Acharya Atre was one of the members of this organisation. The other prominent members of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti were S.M. Joshi, S. A. Dange, N. G. Gore, Uddhavrao Patil, Madhavrao Bagal, Jayantrao Tilak, Prabodhankar Thackeray among others. The Marathi Shahirs viz. Shahir Sable, Shahir Annabhau Sathe, etc. had also played a vital role in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement.

The opposition parties from Maharashtra such as Indian Communist Party, Praja Samajwadi Party, Socialist Party, Hindu Mahasabha and Jan Sangha were part of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti. The Scheduled Caste Federation formed by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar also joined this organisation. The Scheduled Caste Federation later on became the Republican Party of India.

The central government created the Bi-lingual state consisting Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 November 1956. Yashwantrao Chavan became the Chief Minister of it.

Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti contested the elections of 1957 against the Congress party. It gave a tough fight to Congress. Though Congress got the majority by winning 222 seats out of 395, it lost ground to Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti in Western Maharashtra. In Western Maharashtra the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti got 96 seats.

Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti organised protests at various places in Maharashtra as well as Delhi. In one of the protests organised in Bombay city as many as 105 Marathi persons died due to the police firing in Bombay city (today’s Mumbai City). In the memory of these martyrs a memorial is built near Flora Fountain in Mumbai which is called as ‘Hutatma Chowk’.

The efforts of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti and leaders like S.M. Joshi, S. A. Dange, Acharya Atre, Prabodhankar Thackeray, etc. and the common man from Marathi speaking community became successful when the central government declared the creation of state of Maharashtra with Bombay (today’s Mumbai) as its capital. 1^st May 1960 is the day on which the present day state of Maharashtra was created. Since then 1^st May is celebrated as Maharashtra Day in the state of Maharashtra.