The Quintessence of Marathi Literature

The Quintessence of Marathi

Literature

BY B. R. DESHPANDE, M.A., LL.B.

The vast bulk of Marathi Literature is capable of a very clear-cut division, namely, into that of the pre-British Era and that of the British Period. This division is significant in more senses than one. Not only does it suggest the chronological and historical environment but also a radical transformation in the very tendencies and outlook of the writers in each period and in the form and matter of literary product.

In the Marathi literature of the pre-British era (1300 A. D. to 1818 A. D.) we find poetry the predominant form. The history of the literature of this period is therefore really the history of the Marathi poetry of this period. Poetry was the only form of literary expression which was practised.

The Marathi poetry composed in this period flowed from the souls of the saint-poets, chief amongst whom were Dnyaneshwara, Namadeva, Eknatha, Tukaram and Ramadasa. They were not only poets and saints but also philosophers. They had a philosophy of life to preach. The cult of these saint-poets was the cult of spiritual life. All of them laid stress on a life of devotion to God although the last of them, Ramadasa, was a man of action and preached the value of effort as well. But to him too the summum bonum of earthly life was ‘service to God.’ He knew that service to Him consisted of service to Humanity, that devotion to Him was really devotion to the task of making our brethren better, and that the betterment of this earthly life could not be achieved by mere ecstatic faith or devotional singing but by sturdy and positive action.

It is not to be supposed, however, that Ramadasa was merely a prosaic preacher of doctrines. His devotion was ecstatic and therefore really poetic. True, he was not like his predecessors an emotional votary of Vitthala (the god of Pandharpur), yet he preached devotion to God as complementary to a virtuous life of duty.

The Vitthala-devotion cult, which was a cult of emotional and spiritual ecstasy, was sponsored by the predecessors of Ramadasa, and had its acme in the poet, Tukarama. The sorrows and sufferings of life were no doubt drowned in the ecstasy of devotion, but the singing of the Name of God alone was not a remedy for the oppressed people. So, although this cult of the saint-poets, who belonged to the Varkaree Faith which consisted in devotion to Vitthala, produced admirable poetry and wisdom of life, it failed to inspire any mass action for the betterment of human life. Yet, it must not be forgotten that this cult had originated as a step towards the enlightenment of the masses. The language of the masses was Marathi while the language for written literature was Sanskrit at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Mukundraj and Dnyaneshwara broke off from the tradition and used the spoken tongue as a literary vehicle. They were held up to ridicule and derision, yet they carried on their noble mission bravely.

The most outstanding figures at the beginning of this period which is to be termed the ‘Age of Devotion’ were Dnyaneshwara and Namadeva. While Dnyaneshwara was the intellectual apostle of the philosophy of devotion, Namadeva was its emotional counterpart. The one preached, the other sang. The foundations of the Varkaree Faith, a faith which centred ecstatic devotion in the image of Vitthala at Pandharpur and preached sentimental worship of the concrete image as an embodiment of God, were well and truly laid.

Eknatha belongs rather to the lineage of Dnyaneshwara than to that of Namadeva for he too preached and led a life of virtue. The ‘Age of Devotion’ attained its culmination in saint-poet Tukarama for whom poetry was the medium of expressing the ecstasy, and of praising the virtue of, devotion to God Vitthala.

We cannot however treat lightly one gigantic figure of this age. It is Dasopanta, whose writings are of great bulk although he did not contribute to the tendencies of his age or influence the masses. His industry is to be admired, and his colossal works place him as a pioneer in that class of literary men who deliberately set themselves the task of cultivating literature in their mother-tongue, a class to which belong stylists like Wamana, indefatigable authors like Shreedhara, biographers like Mahipati, and poet-artists like Moropanta.

Here we deviate a little from the serene, pure and virtuous path of Devotion to the by-lanes of the poetry of the sensuous, to all the sensual imagery attendant upon it, and to warlike ballads and songs about historical and patriotic episodes. Beauty and Heroism came to be substituted for Serenity and Purity; and with this deviation, especially with the spread of love-songs of a decadent type (Lawanee), is contemporaneous the period of decadence of the Mahratta Power. The poetry of this age followed after all the natural law of demand and supply: the songsters and minstrels supplied just what the people wanted. People wanted delight rather than wisdom in this age of transition, and the ‘sons of song and pleasure’ were patronised by their pleasure-seeking master, Bajirao II. The translation of Sanskrit epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana was accomplished by the industrious poet, Moropanta, who had always denounced this deviation from purity in literature that was current in his times.

Then came the downfall of a house divided against itself–ruined by the degeneracy attendant upon love of pleasure, lack of purity and want of a sense of duty. The last of the Peshwas fell in 1818 A.D., and a new era began under the British Rule.

After 1818 A.D. the British Government of Bombay had full suzerainty over the lands in which Marathi was spoken, and immense help was rendered by Elphinstone and Malcolm, the early Governors of Bombay, to literary activities, particularly to translation work. The earliest prose works published in this period mainly belonged to the educational type. The books written and published for educational use predominated.

A decade and a half before the beginning of the twentieth century a unique renaissance in the realm of literature came about. Literary writers increased in number, and the love of reading spread with the advent of literacy. Poetry, novel, short story, drama and the literary essay flourished. Men of letters, with broad and reforming tendencies, arose. The literature of biography, study, literary criticism, humour, science, travel and other information became popular. Prose predominated everywhere. The printing press and periodicals helped immensely to spread literature. The theatre became a popular pastime. Lectures, political or purely intellectual, were heard with enthusiasm.

Among the types of creative literature the short story holds a unique position. It is the one form of literature which has been the real vehicle of expression of the essence of the life and culture of Maharashtrians. One is really amazed at the fine quality and enormous quantity of its output at this day.

Poetry sprouted with modernity and with a subtle, charming novelty in Keshavasut, acclaimed now as the Father of modern Marathi poetry. His contemporary, Rev. Tilak created a taste and liking for new ways in poetry. The growth of Marathi poetry owes much to the deep and contemplative art of the poets, Gupte (Bee) and Tambe. Life and love are the main concerns of the major poets. The poems of Ram Ganesh Gadkari (‘Govindaraja’) and Thombre (‘Balakavi’), both short-lived but brilliant poets, have a delicacy of emotion and pathos which are unique. Tiwari and Savarkar are the poets of patriotism. Behere, Tekade, Kanetkar (‘Girish’) Patwardhan (‘Madhav Julian’) and Yashwant are enthusiastic and productive poets. P. K. Atre is a brilliant parodist. The poets in Berar are artists of a high type. Their poetry has a mystic fervour. A. R. Deshpande (‘Anil’) is exquisite in composition, and philosophises on the relation between love and life. N. G. Deshpande, G. H. Deshpande, Waman Na. Deshpande and V. S. Vakil have given quite concrete proof of their abilities. Y. M. Pathak, B. S. Pandit and V. B. Kolte are good poets. Mr. and Mrs. P. Y. Deshpande are vehement and sentimental respectively. The best amongst all these yet show the strain of a certain lethargy which is but natural in the unappreciative atmosphere in which they have to live. Kanetkar, W. B. Pathak and Borkar are read with relish by the young.

The novel owes its origin and growth to a hard-working man of letters–Hari Narayan Apte. It was in the beginning, as was the short story also, a form of literature for imparting chaste delight and instruction to the readers. The modern novelists who are widely read are Phadke and Khandekar; they appeal more to college students and to the leisured middle class. Phadke depicts with relish the sensual-emotional side of life while Khandekar depicts the unhappy-sentimental side of it. B. V. Varerkar is really a correct painter of the subtleties of Maharashtrian home life. V. M. Joshi is a thought-provoking writer, P. Y. Deshpande is an intelligent and powerful novelist, Na. Ha. Apte is a sound moralist. Many younger writers of promise are entering this field and gaining admirable success.

Drama and humour are closely associated, and our best dramatists are also humorists–Kelkar, Khadilkar, Kolhatkar and Gadkari. No figure as brilliant and as loved by an audience as Gadkari has yet arisen. Atre recently attained success mainly on account of his humour, but his hyperbolic pathos and excess of stage-appeal come in the way of long-lasting literary fame. The advent of the talkies has given the death blow to travelling dramatic companies.

The Marathi short story originated as entertaining reading matter, published in magazines and periodicals. It suddenly became the most popular form both with readers and with writers, and this is no doubt due to the suitability and convenience of this medium for expressing the various phases of the life of the people. Khandekar is an industrious and zealous writer, but Y. G. Joshi is a better interpreter of Maharashtrian life. Varerkar and Bokil are powerful stylists. Divakar Krishna, the Limayes, P. S. Kolhatkar, Ambekar, Khanolkar, Phadke, Barve, J. Sardesai and L. Sardesai, Raghuvir, Sahasrabudhe, Daundakar, Walke, Oka and innumerable others are good story writers. Amongst women the person writing under the pen-name of ‘Vibhavaree Shirurkar’ has inaugurated a new style of frank realism. Kamala bai Tilak, ‘Krushnabai’ K. Prabhavalkar and K. Deshpande have also attained remarkable success.

The aim of this article has been to give a critical idea of the main tendencies in Marathi literature and an account of its achievements. A further word by way of criticism will not be out of place here. Literary men of fine sensibilities and wide intelligence feel the insufficiency of a calm, quiet and idealistic devotion to literature among the Maharashtrian intelligentsia. Men who are really gifted waste their powers without entering the world of letters, and literature as an activity is not really pursued by those best fitted to pursue it. A critical and careful encouragement of literary men and literary modes will no doubt bring nearer a brighter era of Marathi Literature.