The significance of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the revival of Indic culture and faiths including Sanatan Dharma in the medieval era is unmatched. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his companions in building Hindavi Swarajya witnessed the toughest of the times when a major part of India was under Islamic rule – Mughals in the north and various Shahis in the southern part.
No wonder the fascinating facets of life and works of the first Chhatrapati of the Maratha empire inspire millions of minds even today. One of the brightest among such enlightened minds in the last century was Late Balwant Moreshwar alias Babasaheb Purandare whose centenary year is completing on 29th July 2022.
Love for history at an early age
Babasaheb Purandare was born on 29th July 1922 at Saswad village near Pune in Maharashtra. He developed a keen interest in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s life and works at a very young age. He started publicly narrating Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s stories when he was just 14 years old. A natural orator, Babasaheb Purandare was witnessing the freedom struggle as a youth and was thus inspired by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s valour who too had fought for freeing the motherland from the clutches of Islamic invaders.
Since his young age, Babasaheb Purandare was closely associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. After independence, Babasaheb Purandare started working in Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal where he met historian Ganesh Hari Khare and started working as a history researcher under his guidance.
In his initial days, he worked on the project titled “Maratha Itihasachi Shakavali 1740-1761” (Years of Maratha History 1740-1761). This project was initiated by the University of Pune in association with Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal.
Initial writings of Babasaheb Purandare
During the same period, that is, in the 1950s and 1960s, Babasaheb Purandare also wrote for the newspaper Maratha run by Acharya Pralhad Keshav Atre. Purandare also frequently wrote in a magazine called ‘Manoos’ run by his brother-in-law SG Mazgaonkar with whom he went on to start a publishing house which is today famously known as the Rajahasna Prakashan.
During the same time, between 1955 to 1961, Babasaheb Purandare actively worked in the freedom struggle of Dadra and Nagar Haveli which was then under the Portuguese regime. He also continued and bettered his well-researched story-telling on the era of the Maratha regime in general and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in particular.
He also penned some inspiring incidents in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s life in the form of short stories and its collection was also published during this time. It was titled ‘Thingya’ (Sparkles). In those years, Babasaheb Purandare would peddle his bicycle for hours to reach some historic spot, collect the historic documents and evidence and meet the people who might have had stories to tell about the history they knew either as folklore or with concrete proof. It was his years in the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal that shaped a historian within Babasaheb Purandare.
Association with Gopal Nilkanth Dandekar
During his stint as a history researcher and columnist, Babasaheb Purandare developed close ties with eminent Marathi writers like Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, Gopal Nilkanth Dandekar, and others. It was GN Dandekar who often took Babasaheb Purandare along while he visited any fort. GN Dandekar is also known as ‘Durg Maharshi’ as he spent most of his life exploring each and every fort in Maharashtra. GN Dandekar and Babasaheb Purandare used to organize various camps on a regular basis and took the youths of Maharashtra to the forts where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his brave commanders fought against the Islamic rulers.
Babasaheb Purandare was an excellent storyteller. His selection of words to describe an incident from the chapters of history was unmatchable. He and GN Dandekar are credited with first doing the expedition of the Panhalgad to Vishalgad path via Pavankhind where Baji Prabhu Deshpande fought the bravest rearguard battle in human history and laid his life ensuring a safe passage to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who was being chased by the Adilshahi army.
Literary Contribution of Babasaheb Purandare
While GN Dandekar went on to write about the geography and beautiful terrain of the more than 350 forts in Maharashtra, Babasaheb Purandare took up the task to pen the story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that revolved around the same forts. He wrote Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s biography ‘Raja Shiv Chhatrapati’. This novel is one of the most popularly read biographies of the Hindu king. Purandare’s linguistic skills have only enriched the great tale which in itself is very inspiring.
Besides this biography, Babasaheb Purandare went on to write other books covering various individual incidents from the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and describing various historical places and stories associated with them. The list includes titles like Rajgad, Panhalgad, Sinhgad, Lal Mahal, Purandar, Pratapgad, Agra, etc. In 2014, Hema Herlekar translated ‘Raja Shiv Chhatrapati’ into English.
The magic of ‘Janata Raja’
Babasaheb Purandare is also known for two plays he wrote – one is titled Phulwanti and the other is titled ‘Janata Raja’ (जाणता राजा). ‘Janata Raja’ is a mega play based on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Its first show was staged in the year 1985 and since then, it became a tradition of Maharashtra to host the shows of this play. Every year, after the monsoon was over, there used to be shows of this play in various cities and towns of the state. Till now, more than 1000 shows of this play are staged in Maharashtra as well as in Agra, Delhi, Bhopal, and the United States.
This drama is performed by more than 200 artists and these artists are accompanied by many elephants, camels, and horses. This grand show earned more fame for Babasaheb Purandare as he took the story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to the common man in the most uncommon theatrical performance. This play, in a true sense, depicted the grandeur of the medieval era.
As Babasaheb Purandare became Shiv-Shahir
Throughout his life, Babasaheb Purandare delivered countless speeches on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Whatever honorarium he received for his lectures and speeches, he used to either donate it to various institutions or employed in further researching the topic he became synonymous to. There were numerous occasions when he roamed around the state to research his topic, despite there being lesser means of travel in those days. Even the smallest details of the life of the Maratha king were at the tip of his tongue. Even at the age of 100, as late as a few days before his demise, he was blessed with a sharp memory.
His research was so impeccable that he would even tell the exact dates of the solar eclipses that were seen from Maharashtra during the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In Maharashtra, lakhs of CDs and cassettes of his lecture series on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are sold. People of Maharashtra take pride in calling him Shiv-Shahir which means a bard of King Shivaji. The government of Maharashtra honoured him with the Maharashtra Bhushan Award in 2015. The government of India honoured him with the second highest civilian award in the country ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in 2019. Shiv-Shahir Babasaheb Purandare passed away on 15th November 2021 at the age of 100 in Pune.
As the nation marks the completion of the centenary year of the late historian Babasaheb Purandare on 29th July 2022, Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal Pune is all set to publish a book in the memory of the Shiv-Shahir. Eminent Marathi personalities, colleagues, and disciples of the Shiv-Shahir have penned their memories about him in this book called ‘Sonchapha’. Babasaheb Purandare’s colleague historian Gajanan Bhaskar Mehendale will launch the book on 31st July 2022 in a program in Pune.
