2016-02-27 Sat

Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar popularly known by his pen name, Kusumagraj was born on 27th February 1912. He was an eminent Marathi poet, playwright, novelist and a short story writer.

His career spanned an amazing five decades starting in pre-independence era, he wrote 16 volumes of poems, three novels, eight volumes of short stories, seven volumes of essays, 18 plays and six one-act plays.

His collection of lyrics “Vishakha”, inspired a generation into the Indian freedom movement, and is today considered one of the masterpieces of Indian literature. His famous play “Natasamrat” has an important place in Marathi literature and has recently been adapted into a Marathi film going by the same name.

He has received several State awards and National awards: 1974 Sahitya Akademi Award in Marathi for Natsamrat, Padma Bhushan (1991) and the Jnanpith Award in 1987. His birthday is celebrated as the “Marathi Bhasha Din” in Maharashtra.

Such legendary poet is honoured on INR 5 commemorative stamp issued by the India Post in 2003.