Balwant Moreshwar Purandare, popularly known as Babasaheb Purandare is a writer and theatre personality from Maharashtra, India. He was awarded with Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award on 25 January 2019. His works are mostly based on the events related to the life of Shivaji, the 17th-century founder of the Maratha Empire; as a result he is termed as Shiv-Shahir. He is mostly known for his popular play on Shivaji Jaanta Raja which was popular not only in Maharashtra but also in Andhra Pradesh and Goa. Purandare has also studied the history of the Peshwas of Pune. He is also known for his significant contribution along with Madhav Deshpande & Madhav Mehere as senior party leaders in the early-1970s of Shiv Sena along with Balasaheb Thackeray. In 2015, he was awarded with Maharashtra Bhushan Award, Maharashtra's highest civilian award.
Works
Purandare had started writing stories related to the period of Shivaji's reign at a very young age, which were later compiled and published in a book titled "Thingya". His other works include books titled Raja Shiva-Chatrapati and Kesari, and a book on life of Narayanrao Peshwa. But the most well-known of his works is the drama, Jaanata Raja, a widely popular play on Shivaji published and first staged in 1985. Since then the drama has been staged over 1000 times in 16 districts of Maharashtra, Agra, Delhi, Bhopal, and the United States. Originally written in Marathi, this work was later translated into Hindi. This drama is performed by over 200 artists, as well as elephants, camels and horses. Generally the performance of this drama begins around Diwali each year. For his works, in the field of drama, he was awarded the Kalidas Samman by the Madhya Pradesh government for the year 2007-08.
Personal life
His wife Nirmala Purandare was a veteran social activist. She founded Vanasthali organisation in Pune. Her work for rural women, child development was renowned. Her brother, Shree Ga Majgaonkar, and Babasaheb Purandare had very close association in the field of literature. Babasaheb Purandare has a daughter and two sons, Amrut and Prasad. All his children are active in Marathi literary field. Madhuri Purandare, his daughter, is a renowned writer, painter, and singer.
Criticism
Maratha outfit that has been protesting against Purandare believes that he has sullied the reputation of Maratha warrior Shivaji through his writings. They also, protested when Maharashtra government decided to award Maharashtra Bhushan to the writer.
