Vishnubhat Godse (1827-1904)[1] (Marathi: विष्णुभट गोडसे) commonly known as Godse Bhataji was an Indian traveller and a Marathi writer. Godse is best known for his travelogue Majha Pravas (My Travels), which is notable for the description of his "true and unique" experiences of the Indian mutiny of 1857 during his travel in North India.[1] It is one of the earliest travelogues written in Marathi language.[2]
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Vishnubhat was a priest from village Varsai near Pen in Bombay Presidency. He was a priest by his ancestral profession. His ancestors worked as priests during the reign of the Peshwas. But the fall of Peshwas in 1818 by the East India Company, a few years before his birth, brought an end to the good old days for the family and they had to struggle hard for livelihood. Vishnubhat therefore decided to visit North India in search of livelihood.
Vishnubhat started his journey to North India on March 30, 1857 with his uncle.[3] On July 1, 1857, he reached to Mhow Cantonment where he heard the first new of the revolt. After that he visited, Gwalior, Dhar, and Ujjain, but he could not found good means for living because of the changed conditions due the revolt.
Vishnubhat subsequently went to Jhansi, where he was later appointed as the court priest by the queen of Jhansi Rani Laxmibai. He was present in Jhansi when General Hugh Rose attacked on Jhansi on April 3-4, 1858. He later went to Kalpi as the queen had already escaped to Kalpi from the fort of Jhansi during the attack of East India Company army. He was also present at the battle of Kalpi in May 1858.[3] Later, he paid visits to Bramhavarta, Chitrakuta, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Ayodhya. He was in Ayodhya on the day of Ram Navami i.e. April 11, 1859.[3]
Throughout his journey, he encountered with death a several times, sometimes arrested by the mutineers, sometimes by the company soldiers, sometimes by robbers, and robbed of almost everything whatever money he earned during his travel. In the beginning of 1860, he returned to Varsai via Sagar, Hoshangabad, Indore, and Nashik.[4]
Vishnubhat returned to Varsai in early 1860. His dreadful experiences during the journey made him much more stubborn, but so deep was the fear of the atrocities that he experienced during his travel, he could not start his travelogue for about 24 years. He started writing it in 1883. It was a handwritten manuscript in Modi script of Marathi language. The travelogue was not published until the death of Vishnubhat. It was first published in the golden jubilee year of the mutiny in 1907 by the name Maza Pravas: 1857 cya Bandaci Hakikat (My Travels: the Story of the 1857 Mutiny).[5]. This edition was edited by Chintamani Vaidya, who made some changes in the original manuscript, but handed over the original manuscript to Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal in Pune. The original manuscript was published by Datto Vaman Potdar in 1966, which was more faithful to the original account of Vishnubhat.[5]