Marathi poet and crusader Namdeo Dhasal passed away

January 17, 2014

Screenshot_2 The crusading Marathi poet-writer and leader of the Dalit Panthers movement, Namdeo Dhasal (64) passed away in Mumbai.

About Namdeo Dhasal

Pioneer of the Dalit literature movement known for its deep concern for the under-privileged.
Lately, he was writing columns for the Marathi daily Saamana.
Awards and Honors: Padma Shri award, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Maharashtra State Award and Golden Life Time Achievement.
Notable Works: Golpitha, Moorkh Mhataryane, Tujhu Iyatta Kanchi, Khel, Priyadarshini (based on late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi).
For Golpitha, he got Soviet Land Nehru Award.
Dilip Chitre translated a selection of Dhasal’s poems into English under the title ‘Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld’, Poems 1972-2006.
One of the founders of the militant Dalit Panther movement which started after the casteist riots in Worli’s BDD chawls in the late ’60s.