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Author Dattaram Maruti Mirasdar passes away at 94
Dattaram Maruti Mirasdar was the acting president of Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, Pune. While in 1998, he was the president of the 71st Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Parli, Maharashtra. In 2015, he received the Vinda Karandikar Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar
An author who regaled his readers with humour, Dattaram Maruti Mirasdar, born April 14, 1927, passed away due to old age in the city on Saturday.
Known widely in Marathi literary circles as “D Ma” and “Dadasaheb” he brought the village life of Maharashtra alive through his writings.
Though he studied in Pandharpur, this Akluj-born writer went on to earn his Masters from Sir Parashurambhau College in Pune and became a teacher in 1952. He became a professor of Marathi in a college in Pune in 1961.
Although many of Mirasdar’s stories were humorous, he also touched upon serious social issues and the lives of the poor living in villages. His stories Gavat, Ranmanus, Kone Eke Kali, Bhavaki, Hubehub, and Sparsha are classic examples.
Mirasdar was the acting president of Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, Pune. While in 1998, he was the president of the 71st Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Parli, Maharashtra.
In 2015, he received the Vinda Karandikar Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar from the department of Marathi language, Government of Maharashtra and is also the winner of the first-ever Sahityaseva Krutadnyata Puraskar in 2018.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, said, “It is sad to hear the news of the demise of Mirasdar. He was a well known Marathi writer, professor and storyteller. He wrote many books. I have read a lot of his books.”
Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad’s Milind Joshi said, “ For six decades, Mirasdar’s writings brought immense joy to the readers. It is a great loss.”
“He was also the backbone of the Sahitya Parishad and supported many new writers thus becoming known in Marathi literary circles as Sahitya Rushi,” he said.
