Shankarrao Ramchandra Kharat (11 July 1921 – 9 April 2001) was a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

writer from

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India.The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Nation
/ref> Kharat was part of the

Mahar Mahar is one of the Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in the middle of the 20th century. As of 2017 the Mahar caste w ...

community born in

Atpadi Atpadi is an administrative town of the Atpadi Taluka of Sangli district, Sangli District in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Atpadi is located north-east of Sangli District and shares borders with the adjacent ...

, the secondary capital of the former princely state of Aundh, now in Sangli district. As an adult, he converted to

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Kharat was associated with

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on t ...

. He served for some years as the vice-chancellor of

Marathwada University Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), is an public university located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra. It is named after B. R. Ambedkar, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, an Indian social reformer and political leader who cha ...

.Dalit Autobiographical Narratives
and as a member of the

Maharashtra Legislative Council The Maharashtra Legislative Council or Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. Maharashtra Legislature Leaders Party Group Leader & Chief Whip and Whip Location Th ...

. In his writings, Kharat mainly wrote about the life experiences of people from the

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

community.558 Anupama Rao, Representing Dalit selfhood
/ref>

Work

During his lifetime, Kharat wrote six novels, eight short story collections, an autobiography, and several non-fiction books, all centered around the issues important to the Dalit struggle. His most celebrated work, Taral Antaral, an autobiographical novel, was first published in 1981 and gained prominence for its portrayal of Dalit life in Maharashtra. In addition to his fictional writings, Kharat authored the non-fiction historical work Maharashtratil Maharancha Itihaas (The History of Mahars in Maharashtra), which remains a magnum opus in its field. Kharat's literature not only narrated stories but also aimed to resurrect the buried and appropriated histories of marginalized communities who had been denied a place in the literary imagination of the country.

References

External links

*Nalini Natarajan, Emmanuel Sampath Nelson, ''Handbook of Twentieth-century Literatures of India'' (1996), p. 368 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kharat 2001 deaths Writers from Maharashtra Kharat, Shankar Ramchandra 1921 births Navayana Buddhists People from Sangli Members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Presidents of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University 20th-century Indian Buddhists 21st-century Indian Buddhists