Pune. Padma Vibhushan, Shivshahir, Maharashtra Bhushan Babasaheb Purandare, author of the book ‘Raja Shivchhatrapati’ and author of the play ‘Jaanata Raja’, who conveyed Shivcharitra to households with his energetic voice, passed away in Pune. He was 99 years old & just entered in 100th year.
Balwant Moreshwar Purandare, also known as Babasaheb Purandare, died at Dinanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune at 5:07 am on Monday 15th Nov, 2021.
On July 29, 2021, he entered in 100th. He received lots of greetings from all walks of life. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also greeted him through a video message.
Babasaheb Purandare was admitted to Dinanath Hospital last week due to pneumonia. As his condition worsened, he was admitted to the intensive care unit. While the treatment is going on, today he breathed his last on November 15. His body was cremated at Vaikuntha Cemetery in the funeral.
Babasaheb had been ill since before Diwali. When he woke up on the morning of October 26, he lost his balance and suffered a head injury. He was rushed to Dinanath Mangeshkar Hospital. There, too, for the first two days, he spoke fluently. After that, however, his health deteriorated.
He contracted pneumonia and was placed on a ventilator. His condition has been critical for the past three days. The doctors treating him said that he was not responding to the treatment due to old age. A special team of doctors had been treating him for the past three days.
With his eloquent voice and elegant rhetoric, he brought the character of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj before Maharashtra. In August 2015, he was honored with the Maharashtra Bhushan Award by the Government of Maharashtra.
Balwant Moreshwar/Babasaheb Purandare’s native village is Saswad in Pune district. He was born on 29 July, 1922 in Pune.
Babasaheb Purandare’s personality is a combination of pride about history, researcher’s attitude to check the truth, patience, perseverance, a kind of heaviness, memory etc. In addition to these qualities, his personality is characterized by intense intelligence, analytical ability, and remarkable writing skills and rhetoric to express inspiring history. Also, with in-depth study, discipline and punctuality were the hallmarks of his character.
Babasaheb Purandare reached every household in Maharashtra through Shivcharitra. His book ‘Raja Shivchhatrapati’ made the character of Chhatrapati known all over the country. The play ‘Jaanata Raja’ made history. Gained immense popularity and respect all over the world. Even at the age of ninety, the enthusiasm in his voice and thoughts remained.
For the last 60 years, he has been spreading the character of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj through his unique style. He had the skill to create a glorious history in front of the listeners with infallible rhetoric. Babasaheb was a waterfall of enthusiasm. Except for Corona’s one-and-a-half-year period, he was still busy at this age. He used to attend lectures and meetings enthusiastically even at this age. Even at this age, he used to talk for hours continuously.
As a young man, Babasaheb Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal started working in this institute. This is the place where historian G.H. In fact, Babasaheb got Gurusthani and started his journey as a history researcher. Babasaheb Purandare had participated as a researcher in the research project ‘Maratha History of Shakavali – 1740 to 1761’ conducted by the University of Pune at the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhan Mandal.
Focusing on history, Babasaheb had been in close touch with the RSS since his youth. During that time he was writing in Pralhad Keshav Atre’s newspaper. He was also working in ‘Manoos’ with his brother-in-law G. Majgaonkar. He later met senior historian and novelist GN Dandekar. They always roamed the forts together. Babasaheb Purandare studied the forts in Maharashtra and the historical documents of the Maratha Empire and the Shiva period.
Participation in the liberation struggle of Dadra Nagar Haveli
Babasaheb Purandare, along with Sudhir Phadke, took part in the liberation struggle of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which was fought for the rest of the Portuguese-occupied India after India’s independence.
Writings by Babasaheb Purandare
Babasaheb Purandare mainly wrote descriptive writings on historical subjects, writing fine novels as well as writing plays and directing plays called Janata Raja.
The wealth of the Purandars, the turn of the Purandars, the literature giving information about the forts (Gadsanch), Shelarkhind, and Raja Shivchhatrapati are the literature published by Babasaheb till date. With the aim of spreading Shivcharitra from house to house, Babasaheb made Raja Shivchhatrapati a book through tireless research and hard work. To date, 16 editions of this book have reached about 5 lakh households.
Babasaheb Purandare wrote the book Raja Shivchhatrapati with many documents under his eye. The 17th edition of this book was published on March 31, 2014 (Goody Padva). Formerly a single book, it is now divided into two volumes.
Play writing and directing
He also wrote and directed the plays Phulwanti and Jaanata Raja. In the last 27 years, there have been more than 1250 rehearsals of this great play. The first experiment took place on April 14, it happened in 1984. Babasaheb has donated lakhs of rupees to various organizations from the proceeds of these experiments.
The play has been translated into 5 other languages including Hindi-English. It takes a big field to experiment and it takes 10 days to set up a revolving stage and 5 days to take it down.
He carried out some activities to spread the character of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The character of Chhatrapati Shivaji is still alive in Maharashtra, India and abroad through his lectures and the famous Raja Mahanatya. He explained in his lectures that this character is a course of personality formation, revealing many aspects of that character.
He donated lakhs of rupees to various organizations from the sale of books and the distribution of lectures to Babasaheb. With the Maharashtra Bhushan award, he kept only ten paise out of ten lakh rupees and donated another fifteen lakh rupees to the cancer hospital.
Honors and awards received by Babasaheb Purandare
D.Y. Patil’s Abhimat University awarded him a D.Litt. For his contribution to history research. (2013)
Dr. Sagar Deshpande has published the illustrated character of Babasaheb Purandare under the name ‘Belbhandara’.
He was honored by Padma Vibhushan in 2019 & was awarded the Maharashtra Bhushan Award in 2015.
Guardian-Giripremi Lifetime Achievement Award (21-2-2016)
Principal Shivajirao Bhosale Memorial Award (2012)
Historical and other literature written by Babasaheb Purandare…
Agra
Kalavantini’s decoration
King knows
Panhalgad
Purandar
From the bastion of Purandar
Sarkarwada of Purandars
Purandari’s turn
Pratapgad
Flowering
Your Majesty
Mujra’s standard
Rajgad
Raja Shivchhatrapati Purvardh and Uttarardh (There is also an English version of this book published in 2014. Translator – Hema Herlekar)
Lalmahal
Shillong gold
Shelarkhind.
Savitri
Sinhagad
Soundtrack
Story telling by Babasaheb Purandare – Part 1, 2, 3 (Cassettes and CDs)
Shivacharitra Kathan Part 1 to 15 cassettes and set of CDs
