Anna Bhau Sathe jayanti

                                        

 Tukaram Bhaurao Sathe ( August 1 , 1920 – July 18 , 1969 ), popularly known as Anna Bhau Sathe, was a Marathi social reformer , folk poet , and writer . Sathe was born into the Mang community. His writings were based on social and political activism. Sathe was of Marxist-Ambedkarite leanings, initially influenced by communist ideology. He is credited as the founder of Dalit literature . He also played an important role in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement .

Anna Bhau Sathe's literature has been a guide and catalyst for change. The contribution of this literature in the overall formation and transformation of Maharashtra is considered significant. Even today, a large number of students and scholars are seen doing research studies on this literature of his. Shaheer Anna Bhau Sathe, Shaheer Amar Sheikh and Shaheer D.N. Gavankar did the work of instilling the United Maharashtra movement in the minds of the people. Shaheer presented programs of his Lalbavta Kalapanka in Mumbai , Marathwada , Vidarbha , Konkan , Western Maharashtra and many places in the border areas.

Personal life- Anna Bhau Sathe was born on 1 August 1920 in the village of Wategaon in Walwa taluka of Sangli district. His father's name was Bhaurao Sathe and his mother's name was Valubai Sathe. Sathe did not study in school, he went to school for only one and a half days and then left school due to discrimination by the upper castes there. He married twice, his first wife was Kondabai Sathe and the second was Jayavanta Sathe. They had a total of three children - Madhukar, Shanta and Shakuntala.

Politics- Sathe was first influenced by the communist ideology of Com. Shripad Amrit Dange. In 1944, he founded the Lalbavata Kala Pathak along with Shahiras Datta Gavankar and Amar Sheikh . Through this, he challenged many government decisions. He remained active in the 1940s and, according to Tevia Abrams, was "the most exciting theatrical event of the 1950s" before the advent of communism in India. After Indian independence, he was dissatisfied with the rule of the upper castes in India, so he led a march of twenty thousand people in Mumbai on 16 August 1947 , and the slogan of the march was, "Ye Azadi jhooti hai, Desh ki Janata bhukhi hai!" He was also an important figure in the Indian People's Theatre Association, a cultural wing of the Communist Party of India, and in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement , which demanded the creation of a separate Marathi-speaking state (Bombay State) from the linguistic division.

Sathe, following the teachings of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, turned to Dalit work and used his stories to express the lived experiences of Dalits and workers. In 1958 , in his inaugural address at the first Dalit Literary Conference held in Bombay, he said, "The earth does not float on the head of Sheshnaga but on the palms of Dalits and workers." This illustrated the importance of Dalits and working classes in global structures. Unlike most Dalit writers of the period, Sathe's work was influenced by Marxism .

He has said, "Dalit writers have been given the responsibility of liberating and protecting Dalits from the current worldly and Hindu oppressions. Because long-standing traditional beliefs cannot be destroyed in an instant.

Writing materials- Sathe wrote 35 novels in Marathi, including Fakira (1959), which won the State Government's Best Novel Award in 1961. Sathe's short story collections include 15, a large number of which have been translated into many Indian languages and 27 non-Indian languages. In addition to novels and short stories, Sathe wrote plays, a Russian adventure, 12 screenplays, and 10 songs in the Marathi povada genre.

Sathe's use of folkloric narrative styles such as powada and lavani made him popular among the people and helped his work reach out to many communities. In 'Fakira', dedicated to the fierce penmanship of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar , Sathe portrayed the hero Fakira who rebels against the rural orthodoxy and British rule to save his community from complete starvation. The hero and his community are later arrested and tortured by British authorities, and the Fakira is eventually hanged.

The urban environment of Mumbai had a significant influence on his writing. He depicted it in the form of a dystopian family. He described Mumbai as 'abusing, exploitative, unequal and unjust' in two of his songs, "Mumbaichi Lavani" and "Mumbaicha Girnikamagar".