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{{Short description|Indian writer (1872–1948)}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Krishnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar
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| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1872|11|25}}
| birth_place = Sangli
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1948|08|26|1872|11|25}}
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| citizenship = Indian
| education = Deccan College
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| notableworks = Kichak Vadh
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{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
'''Krishnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar''' (25 November 1872 – 26 August 1948) was a [[Marathi people|Marathi]] writer from [[Bombay Presidency]], British India. George calls him "a prominent lieutenant of [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak|Lokmanya Tilak]]". He was editor of [[Kesari (Marathi newspaper)|Kesari]], [[Lokmanya (newspaper)|Lokmanya]] and [[Nava Kaal|Navakal]]. The subject of '''navakal''' is political, trade and market price Khadilkar in the beginning of his career wrote prose-plays, but achieved "even greater recognition" with plays like ''Svayamvara'' – which had songs which were based on Indian classical music. The notability of his dramatic technique, in his fifteen plays, was to "endow ancient Hindu legends and tales with contemporary political significance".<ref name="GeorgeAkademi1995">{{cite book|author1=K. M. George|author2=Sahitya Akademi|title=Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Plays and prose|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eTXougCB-NMC&pg=PA449|accessdate=15 February 2012|date=1 January 1995|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-7201-783-5|pages=449–}}</ref> The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature (Volume Two) (Devraj To Jyoti), remarks that while [[Annasaheb Kirloskar]] "laid the foundation of popular sangit natak", it saw its great rise and gradual decline with the advent of Khadilkar. It considers Khadilkar along with [[Bal Gandharva]] as "the architect of what later on came to be called the golden age of the Marathi drama".<ref name="Datta2006">{{cite book|author=Amaresh Datta|title=The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature (Volume Two) (Devraj To Jyoti)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&pg=PA1088|accessdate=15 February 2012|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1194-0|pages=1088–}}</ref>

In 1921, after Tilak's death, ''Lokmanya'' was founded by admirers of Tilak. Khadilkar assumed its editorship. In 1923 he resigned because of his support of Gandhi's position in division of nationalist political opinion, under opposition from the promoters who rejected it. In March 1923 Khadilkar started his own newspaper [[Nava Kaal]], which "supported [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Gandhi]]'s programme" and its editorials "preached Gandhi's philosophy.<ref name="(India)1972">{{cite book|author=National Centre for the Performing Arts (India)|title=Quarterly journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bYiAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=15 February 2012|year=1972|publisher=[Bombay]}}</ref><ref name="TopeCulture1986">{{cite book|author1=Trimbak Krishna Tope|author2=Maharashtra State Board for Literature & Culture|title=Bombay and Congress movement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHoeAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=15 February 2012|year=1986|publisher=Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture}}</ref>

==Life and career==
Khadilkar was born on 25 November 1872 in [[Sangli]]. At the age of 15, he wrote a novel, and the next year he wrote a play. He received his B.A. degree in 1892 from [[Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute|Deccan College]] in [[Pune]]. Out of his abiding interest in plays, he closely studied during his college years the plays of [[Sanskrit]] and English playwrights.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}

==Association with Tilak==
In 1897, Khadilkar joined the editorial staff of Bal Gangadhar Tilak's daily ''[[Kesari (Marathi newspaper)|Kesari]]'' (केसरी). His ideas and literary style so closely matched those of Tilak that the readers of ''Kesari'' never knew as to which of the two had written the editorials appearing in the newspaper. In 1908 the colonial government arrested Tilak on charges of sedition for an article written by Khadilkar.<ref name="Ramaswamy2003">{{cite book|author=Vijaya Ramaswamy|title=Re-searching Indian women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oihkAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=12 February 2012|year=2003|publisher=Manohar|isbn=978-81-7304-496-0}}</ref> Tilak was sentenced to six years [[Penal transportation|transportation]] to be served in [[Mandalay]].<ref name="Vohra2001">{{cite book|author=Ranbir Vohra|title=The making of India: a historical survey|url=https://archive.org/details/makingofindiahis00vohr|url-access=registration|accessdate=12 February 2012|year=2001|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-0711-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingofindiahis00vohr/page/113 113]–}}</ref>

During 1908–10, Khadilkar served as the chief editor of Tilak's English daily ''Maratha'' besides serving on the editorial board of ''Kesari''. In 1910, he left the editorship of both ''Kesari'' and ''Maratha'', but returned to work as the editor of ''Keasari'' during 1917–20.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}

===Plotted Nepalese invasion of India===
Khadilkar was a part of plot that envisioned the invasion of India by the only indedendent Hindu King of a part of India: The king of Nepal. This invasion was to spark an uprising within the country in his support, so that India would be one sovereign Hindu state under the King of Nepal. Tilak's trusted lieutenants [[Vasukaka Joshi]] and Khadilkar, entered Nepal, "where they set up a tile factory, as a respectale front for an arms and munitions plant designed to supply to the invading Nepalese army." A Maharashtrian school teacher Mataji, introduced the two to the King of Nepal. They received a contract to retile the palace roof. They were joined by Hanmantrao Kulkarni of [[Jabalpur]] and Ketkar from [[Gwalior]]. The King of Nepal was influenced to send Nepalese students to Japan for technical training. Joshi went to Japan and the United States. The German arms manufacturing machinery never arrived. The plot never "even approached fruition".<ref name="Wolpert1962">{{cite book|author=Stanley A. Wolpert|title=Tilak and Gokhale: revolution and reform in the making of modern India|url=https://archive.org/details/tilakgokhalerevo0000wolp|url-access=registration|accessdate=15 February 2012|year=1962|publisher=University of California Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tilakgokhalerevo0000wolp/page/326 326]–|id=GGKEY:49PR049CPBX}}</ref>

==Later career==
After Tilak's death in 1920, Khadilkar worked as the editor of daily ''Lokamanya'' (लोकमान्य) during 1921–23. In 1923, he founded daily [[Nava Kaal|Nava Kal]] (नवा काळ), which supported Gandhi.<ref name="(India)1972" /><ref name="TopeCulture1986" /> In 1929, British authorities imprisoned Khadilkar for a year for the crime of disloyalty to the colonial government.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} His grandson, Neelkanth Khadilkar (1934-2019) later served as editor of Nava Kal, and was known for his front page editorials. In 1920s, more than hundred years after it was founded, the newspaper is run by Neelkanth's three daughters - Vasanti Unni, Jayashri, and Rohini Khadilkar, who were known as chess prodigies around 1980. <ref>https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/nilkanth-khadilkar-the-scribe-who-criticised-balasaheb-thackeray-but-also-shared-an-excellent-rapport-with-him/articleshow/72183725.html</ref>

Khadilkar presided over [[Marathi Sahitya Sammelan]] at [[Nagpur]] in 1933.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}

He died on 26 August 1948.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}

==''Kichak Vadh''==

''Kichak Vadh'' (The Slaying of Kichak) (1907) is a play based on an episode in the [[Mahabharat]],<ref name="Hochmaninc1984">{{cite book|author1=Stanley Hochman|author2=McGraw-Hill, inc|title=McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of world drama: an international reference work in 5 volumes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zo5os6d0rvMC&pg=PA38|accessdate=13 February 2012|year=1984|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=978-0-07-079169-5|pages=38–}}</ref> [[Kichak]] is a minister at the court of Virat who attempts to molest [[Draupadi]], he is assassinated by her husband [[Bhima]] as a result. The play was a manifestation of resistance to British rule. This molestation is used as a metaphor for the policies of the British colonial government in India. Kichak represented [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Lord Curzon]]: [[Viceroy]] to the King, just as Kichak was minister to King Virat; Draupadi represented India and Bhima represented an extremist nationalist, in contrast to [[Yudhishthira|Yudhishtar]], standing for moderate nationalism. ''The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature...'' states that "Kichaka was cast in the mould of the then Viceroy, Lord Curzon, and some of his aggressively arrogant utterances (like, 'the rulers are rulers and the slaves are slaves') found direct echoes in the words of Kichaka, while the popular mood of resentment and revolt was vehemently expressed by the fiery speeches of Draupadi and Bhima"<ref name="DattaAkademi1987">{{cite book|author1=Amaresh Datta|author2=Sahitya Akademi|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: K to Navalram|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QaIRAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=15 February 2012|year=1987|publisher=Sahitya Akademi}}</ref> Bhatia considers that the playwright contrasts the aggression and hatred of the government for its colonial subjects with the resistance of those who attempt rescue the nation from colonial evils. Themes of sacrifice, war and duty "sharpened the quest of freedom". The play was an allegorical attack on the colonial government.<ref name="Bhatia2004">{{cite book|author=Nandi Bhatia|title=Acts of authority, acts of resistance: theater and politics in colonial and postcolonial India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIr2TX3NiAwC&pg=PA46|accessdate=12 February 2012|date=20 May 2004|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-11263-0|pages=46–}}</ref> Nagendra considers the play as a notable example of the use of a mythological character as a symbol of oppression.<ref name="Nagendra1989">{{cite book|author=Nagendra|title=Jayashankar Prasad his Mind and Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pZEk3D2-4e8C&pg=PA172|accessdate=12 February 2012|year=1989|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan|pages=172–}}</ref>

===Audience reaction to Kichak Vadh===
[[Ignatius Valentine Chirol]]'s 1910 book ''Indian Unrest'' describes the play's plot and explains the allegories. According to Chirol, the play provides a response to [[John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn]], who ridiculed the boast of radical nationalists that they could free their country and defend it from invaders. Chirol suggests that any Englishman who saw the play would remember vividly the tense scowling face of the men as they watch the outrages of Kichak and tearful eyes of the ladies as they watch "Draupadi's entreaties", "their scorn for Yudhishthira's tameness, their admiration of Bhima's passionate protests, and the deep hum of satisfaction which approves the slaughter of the tyrant."<ref name="Indian Unrest">{{cite book|title=Indian Unrest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ABDCwzf5Za8C&pg=PA337|accessdate=13 February 2012|publisher=Forgotten Books|isbn=978-1-4400-7748-7|pages=337–}}</ref>

===Ban===
The Press Act in India was requested for sanction by the Government of India, in response to the sudden rise in revolutionary activities in 1909. Morley refused in deference to hostile reactions from the English public and "'Friends of India' members of the Parliament." [[Charles Augustus Kincaid|Kincaid]] was asked to write on the "seditious climate fostered by the native papers". Kincaid wrote four articles in the Times, amongst them was "A seditious play of the Deccan', a critique of the Marathi play Kichak Vadh by K. P. Khadilkar" as an example of sedition.<ref name="DossalMaloni1999">{{cite book|author1=Mariam Dossal|author2=Ruby Maloni|title=State intervention and popular response: western India in the nineteenth century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7EkGKKvJ0lsC&pg=PA166|accessdate=12 February 2012|date=1 January 1999|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7154-855-2|pages=166–}}</ref> These articles written on 18 January 1910, not only hastened the passage of the India Press Act of 1910 but also called for Kichak Vadh to be banned. The articles were reproduced by [[The Times of India]] and Bombay Gazette on 5 and 7 February 1910 respectively. The play was finally banned.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

''The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: K to Navalram'' mentions that "the London Times, in an eloquent outburst against this play, said in effect, Khadilkar is a most dangerous extremist, and Kichak Vadha is a cleverly veiled incitement to murder the European officials."<ref name="DattaAkademi1987"/>

==Plays==
The following is the list of Khadilkar's plays:<ref name="bharatnatyamandir">{{cite web|url=http://www.bharatnatyamandir.org/Eng/MarathiTheatrePDF/KrishnajiPrabhakar.pdf|title=Krishnaji Prabhakar alias Kakasaheb Khadilkar|work=bharatnatyamandir.org|publisher=Bharat Natya Sanshodhan Mandir|accessdate=15 February 2012|location=Pune}}</ref>
# ''Savai Madhavrao Yancha Mrutyu'' (सवाई माधवराव यांचा मृत्यु)(1895–96)<ref name="Akademi1995">{{cite book|author=Sangeet Natak Akademi|title=Sangeet natak|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZCfAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=15 February 2012|year=1995}}</ref>
# ''Bhaubandaki'' (भाऊबंदकी) (1909): Described as his last political play.<ref name="BallhatchetTaylor1984">{{cite book|author1=Kenneth Ballhatchet|author2=David D. Taylor|author3=University of London. Centre of South Asian Studies|title=Changing South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z848AAAAMAAJ|accessdate=15 February 2012|year=1984|publisher=Published for the Centre of South Asian Studies in the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, by Asian Research Service}}</ref>
# ''Kanchangadachi Mohana'' (कांचनगडची मोहना)
# ''Manapman'' (मानापमान) (1911)<ref name="Datta2006" />
# ''Swayamvar'' (स्वयंवर) (1916)<ref name="Datta2006" />
# ''Keechak-Wadh'' (कीचकवध) (1906)<ref name="Ramaswamy2003" />
# ''Menaka'' (मेनका)
# ''Widyaharan'' (विद्याहरण) (1913)<ref name="Ramaswamy2003" />
# ''Sawitri'' (सावित्री)
# ''Draupadi'' (दौपदी) (1920)<ref name="Ramaswamy2003" />
# ''Sawati Matsar'' (सवतीमत्सर)
# ''Satwa Pariksha'' (सत्त्वपरीक्षा))
# ''Bayakanche Banda'' (बायकांचे बंड)<ref name="Lal2004">{{cite book|author=Ananda Lal|title=The Oxford companion to Indian theatre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DftkAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=16 February 2012|date=20 September 2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-564446-3}}</ref>
# ''Tridandi Sanyas'' (त्रिदंडी संन्यास)
# ''Prem''

Sarkar considers Khadilkar a versatile genius who created "several types of womanhood in some of his dramas in verse." Vidyaharan (Stealing of learning) "will be found to be more complex in treatment of the relations between the sexes than is [[Rabindranath Tagore]]'s Chitra. ... Rukmini-swayamvara (The Choosing of her husband by Rukmini) and Draupadi, Marathas can see the female sex in its atmosphere of freedom, individualism." He notes that Kirloskar was "a genuine poet in whose songs the people find the flow of the soul which as a rule is not characteristic of Khadilkar's compositions"<ref name="Sarkar1922">{{cite book|last=Sarkar|first=Benoy Kumar|title=THE FUTURISM OF YOUNG ASIA AND OTHER ESSAYS ON THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE EAST AND THE WEST |publisher=Julius Springer|location=Berlin|year=1922|chapter=Songs of the Marathas|url=http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/benoy-kumar-sarkar/the-futurism-of-young-asia-and-other-essays-on-the-relations-between-the-east-a-hci/page-33-the-futurism-of-young-asia-and-other-essays-on-the-relations-between-the-east-a-hci.shtml|accessdate=17 February 2012}}</ref> According to [[Padma Anagol]], [[Girijabai Kelkar]] wrote ''Purushanche Band'' to counteract the "effects of vilification of Indian women in Khadilkar's ''Striyancha Band''".<ref name="Anagol2005">{{cite book|first=Padma|last=Anagol|title=The emergence of feminism in India, 1850–1920|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YICroPrSyz4C&pg=PA230|accessdate=17 February 2012|year=2005|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-0-7546-3411-9|pages=230–}}</ref>

===Revised Sangeet Maanapmaan===
A revised version of Sangeet Maanapmaan played in [[Maharashtra]] in 2011–2012, the centenary year of the play's first performance. It has been revised by [[Rahul Deshpande]]. "Originally, the play has five parts with around 52 classical songs. Deshpande's version will have two parts and 22 classical songs."<ref name="bengrut">{{cite news|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/act-100/888011/|title=Act 100|last=Bengrut|first=Dheeraj|date=15 December 2011|work=indianexpress.com|publisher=The Indian Express Limited|accessdate=15 February 2012|location=Mumbai}}</ref>

==References==
{{Wikisourcelang|mr|साहित्यिक:कृष्णाजी प्रभाकर खाडिलकर|कृष्णाजी प्रभाकर खाडिलकर}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Marathi Theatre}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khadilkar, Krushnaji Prabhakar}}
[[Category:Marathi-language writers]]
[[Category:1872 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Sangli]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan]]
[[Category:Writers from British India]]

Krushnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar - Revision history

SnehAnchliya at 06:39, 7 March 2026