Keshavasuta

Krishnaji Keshav Damle (Marathi: कृष्णाजी केशव दामले) (March 15, 1866 - November 7, 1905) was a Marathi poet from Maharashtra, India, who wrote poetry under the pen name Keshavasuta (केशवसुत) .

Life

Damle was born on March 15, 1866 in the town of Malgund near Ratnagiri.

He attended high schools in four different towns at different times: Baroda, Wardha, Nagpur, and Pune. He registered in 1884 at New English School in Pune, where patriots Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, and a few others were then serving as teachers. These Indian independence activists inspired nationalism in Damle.

In his high school, Damle was good at Marathi, English, and Sanskrit languages, but very weak in mathematics. He could thus pass the high school matriculation examination only at his third attempt at age as late as 23.Disappointed, Damle terminated his formal education, and then undertook various low-paying jobs through the rest of his short life to support himself and his family.

He succumbed to a plague epidemic in 1905 at the age of 39.

Works

Mr. Damle wrote 132 poems. They were posthumously published as Keshavasutanchi Kawita (केशवसुतांची कविता) by his younger brother Sitaram Keshav Damle.

Before Damle began composing his poems, Marathi poetry was primarily of the religious genre. He introduced to Marathi language poetry which was pioneering in two respects: Its themes and its language. He chose for his poetry themes of five kinds: romance, love of family, love of nature, love of nation, and poetry itself. He also used, unlike poets of the earlier generations, Marathi which was much more easily comprehensible to the reading public of his times.

His poem Khidakikade Mauj Pahavayas (खिडकीकडे मौज पहावयास) received publication in 1885 when he was 19. He wrote his last poem Harapale Shreya (हरपले श्रेय) in 1905, six months before his death.