Antiexsolutions at 11:27, 12 April 2026

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{{Short description|Indian social activist (1907–1996)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Godavari Parulekar
| image = Godavari Parulekar at a protest, c. 1940s.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Godavari Gokhale
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|8|14|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1996|10|8|1907|8|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Pune]]
| death_place =
| other_names =
| spouse = Shamrao Parulekar
| children =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for = {{bulleted list|[[All India Kisan Sabha]]|[[Liberation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli]]}}
| movement = [[Servants of India Society]]
| alma_mater =
| party = [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]
| otherparty =
| notable_works = ''Jewha Manus Jaga Hoto''
| awards = [[Sahitya Akademi award]]
}}

'''Godavari Parulekar''' (14 August 1907 – 8 October 1996) was a freedom fighter, writer, and social activist. She was influenced by Marxist and Communist ideologies and spent her life fighting for the farmers and working class. She was married to Shamrao Parulekar, another freedom fighter and activist with the same ideologies.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Dhawale|first=Ashok|author-link=Ashok Dhawale|date=2007|title=Godavari Parulekar: A Centenary Tribute|url=http://www.cpim.org/marxist/200704-marxist-godavari.pdf|journal=The Marxist|access-date=20 August 2017|archive-date=25 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925214953/https://www.cpim.org/marxist/200704-marxist-godavari.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Godavari Gokhale was born on 14 August 1907 in [[Pune]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://feminisminindia.com/2017/08/09/godavari-parulekar-essay/|title=Godavari Parulekar: A Life Of Activism {{!}} #IndianWomenInHistory|last=Javalgekar|first=Aishwarya|date=2017-08-09|website=Feminism in India|access-date=2017-08-20}}</ref> Her father Laxmanrao Gokhale was a renowned lawyer. She received a good education, since she was born in a well-to-do family. She graduated from [[Fergusson College]] and then studied law, becoming the first woman law graduate in [[Maharashtra]].<ref name=":0" />

== Early activism ==
In her college years Godavari became involved in the student movement against the British.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&q=godavari+parulekar+writer&pg=PA1823|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature|last=Datta|first=Amaresh|date=1988|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=9788126011940|language=en}}</ref> She participated in individual Satyagrahas and was imprisoned for that in 1932. This did not go with her moderate family, who was comfortable with the British rule. She left the house and decided to join social service in [[Mumbai]].<ref name=":0" />

Godavari joined the [[Servants of India Society]]. She was the first female life member. In 1937 she organized a literacy campaign in Maharashtra. In 1938 she unionized the domestic workers as a part of the working class. In 1938-39 she organized the farmers in Thane district of Maharashtra.<ref name=":0" />

She was imprisoned many times by the British for her work. During this time she met her husband Shamrao Parulekar. He was also a member of Servants of India and was running protests in the same area.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&q=godavari+parulekar&pg=PA217|title=Women in Modern India|last1=Forbes|first1=Geraldine|last2=Forbes|first2=Geraldine Hancock|date=1999-04-28|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521653770|language=en}}</ref> Godavari married Shamrao Parulekar in 1939.<ref name=":0" />

== Joining the communist party ==
Godavari and Shamrao Parulekar’s ideologies did not match those of the [[Servants of India Society]]. During [[World War II]], they believed that refusing to support the British’s war efforts was the best way to get rid of them. After some clashes, they left the organization and joined the [[Communist Party of India]] in 1939. Godavari believed that organizing the working class and farmers was the best way to overthrow the British rule. She was inspired by [[Marxism]]. Along with the leaders of the CPI, she organized the first anti-war strike of the working class in Mumbai. Even after other leaders were captured, she led the protests. She was imprisoned from 1940 to 1942.<ref name=":0" />

== Work with farmers and adivasis ==
Then she shifted her focus to organizing farmers.<ref name=":0" /> She joined the [[All India Kisan Sabha]] and founded its Maharashtra branch, the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha. She was the first joint secretary of the Sabha.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://sabrangindia.in/article/80-years-and-fighting-all-india-kisan-sabha-today%E2%80%99s-moments-agrarian-distress|title=80 Years and Fighting: All India Kisan Sabha in Today's Moments of Agrarian Distress|date=2016-04-18|work=SabrangIndia|access-date=2017-08-20|language=en|archive-date=20 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820115252/https://sabrangindia.in/article/80-years-and-fighting-all-india-kisan-sabha-today%E2%80%99s-moments-agrarian-distress|url-status=dead}}</ref>

She then devoted her life to the struggle of the [[Warli]] Community in Thane,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ras.org.in/the_kisan_sabha_and_adivasi_struggles_in_thane_district_after_1947|title=RAS {{!}} The Kisan Sabha and Adivasi Struggles in Thane District after 1947|website=ras.org.in|language=en|access-date=2017-08-20}}</ref> who was being pushed into forced and bonded labour by wealthy landlords. The Warli women were being raped by landlords, and accused of witchcraft and killed. She led the Warli Adivasi Revolt from 1945 to 1947 along with her husband Shamrao.<ref name=":2" /> She documented the movements in her book ''Jewha Manus Jaga Hoto'' (The Awakening of Man).

After independence also Godavari kept fighting for the rights of Warlis and Adivasis. She founded the ''Adivasi Pragati Mandal'' (Tribal Progress Council) with Shamrao in 1961.<ref name=":0" />

== Founding the CPI (M) in Thane District==
The Communist Party of thane broke in 1964. almost the entire Party in Thane district, led by the Parulekars, unswervingly came over to the CPI(M) [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]. Both Shamrao and Godavari were among the 163 leaders of the Party in Maharashtra who were then in jail. Shamrao and Godavari were elected to the state secretariat.''.''<ref name=":0" />

== Later life ==
After Shamrao’s death in 1965, Godavari continued to lead the CPI (M). In 1986, she became the first female president of the All India Kisan Sabha.<ref name=":3" />

She died on 8 October 1996.<ref name=":0" />

== Written works ==
Godavari captured her struggles in her books. Her most popular book is ''Jewha Manus Jaga Hoto'' (The Awakening of Man).<ref name=":1" /> It was published in 1970, and received the [[Sahitya Akademi Award|Sahitya Akademi award]] in 1972. It also won the Jawaharlal Nehru Award and the Soviet Land Award''.'' It has been translated into many languages, including English and Japanese.{{fact|date=May 2023}}

Her other books are: ''Adivasi revolt: the story of Warli peasants in struggle'' and ''Bandivasachi aath varsh'' (Eight Years of Imprisonment)<ref name=":0" />

== Recognition ==
Godavari was given the Lokmanya Tilak Award and the Savitribai Phule Award for her service towards the marginalized and downtrodden communities in India.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parulekar, Godavari}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Marathi]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Indian women in politics]]
[[Category:People from Maharashtra]]

Godavari Parulekar - Revision history

Antiexsolutions at 11:27, 12 April 2026