An Intellectual Thinker and a Great Social Reformer
Gopal Ganesh Agarkar was born 14 July 1856 in a poor family in the village of Tembhu in Satara district. Facing the current situation, he stayed in Karad, Ratnagiri, Akola and Pune. While studying in college, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar joined the extremist cult of extremist ideology created in Pune with Lokmanya Tilak. To educate and raise public awareness, Gopal G. Agarkar, Lokmanya Tilak & Vishnushastri Chiplunkar -these three established the New English School in Pune (1880), and also started the letters Kesari and Maratha (English) (1881). Agarkar taught at the New English School. Similarly, by accepting the responsibility of editing Kesari, Kesari gained popularity in a short period of time on the strength of effective writing and skillful editing. He also served as principal (1892) of Ferguson College, the Deccan Education Society, founded by the drivers of the New English School.
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| Gopal Ganesh Agarkar |
The concepts of John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer illuminated his mind in college, and his outlook became rationalist and agnostic. From this vantage position, he saw the necessity to reorganize the society at the moment. In Kesari, he began to convey the same function in his social writings. Since the Kesari and Maratha crew felt that the awareness of political issues should be more intense than the awareness of social issues,
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Because the Kesari and Maratha group believed that political awareness should be prioritized over social awareness, Agarkar became ideologically immobilized. As a result, he left Kesari in 1887 and penned the "Sudharak" letter in 1888 to spread his revolutionary social ideals. Political and economic articles were also covered.
He strongly challenged unfair norms and traditions while analyzing social life from an intellectual standpoint. He was opposed to using memoirs to encourage social reform since he did not consider any criteria other than intellectual criteria. To build a decent and ethical society, he didn't even need Religious doctrine. His role was to show that humanitarian characteristics existed before to religion and were later incorporated into religion. His entire social thinking is based on rationalism, individuality, equality, and humanism. Naturally, he disbelieved in pre-birth and reincarnation, as well as quadrupeds, caste, untouchability, child marriage, and other concepts. To them, everything was completely meaningless.
His goal was the worldly well-being of mankind. However, his vision was not narrow enough to consider worldly pleasures as mere sensual pleasures. The satisfaction that comes from having a righteous and self-controlled life is also meant for them in this worldly happiness. Instead of spreading selfishness and arbitrariness due to individual freedom, he felt that the people in the society would be philanthropic and selfless. On the contrary, he was of the opinion that a society which did not believe in individual freedom and was surrounded by useless traditions could never prosper. His approach to tradition was historical, so he acknowledged that something might have been useful in one stage of society. However, he said that if the same thing becomes oppressive in the changing times, it should be discarded without any hesitation. He was of the opinion that if the society was not ready to give up such norms and traditions voluntarily, then it should be abolished by the law.
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His thoughts
were not understood by the superstitious commoners. However, he could not get the support of
well-educated and thoughtful people like Tilak. Tilak felt that the people's
attention should be focused on the social revolution and its power should be
used for political freedom before it is wasted. Agarkar's thoughts on God and
religion Govt. Even reformers like Bhandarkar and Justice Ranade did not like
it. There was a strong reaction from all around against the reformer's
articles. Death threats, exhumation, etc. things done, But he continued the
bitter reward of social reform in the role of 'speaking what is desirable and
doing what is achievable'. From the articles in the Reformer comes the
meticulous observation and in-depth contemplation of various aspects of his
social life.
Women's dress, widows' haircuts, haircuts, funerals
and funerals, shaving, shoes, etc. There are subjects, such as the origin of deities,
idolatry, the afterlife of the soul, etc,which are also closely related to
theology and religion. Some articles have been written to present our position
on what the relationship between social reform and law should be, and to
vigorously advocate for social welfare legislation, while others have provided
radical views on the educational issues of women enslaved by social slavery.
Though (Samajchintan)
Social Thinking was a permanent feature of his personality, he was with Tilak
in the frenzy of political thought. A strong awareness of political rights and
political freedom is clearly reflected in his writings. After Chiplunkar's
retirement, he worked to create political awareness in Maharashtra till he came
out of Kesari.
With his Ideological essays, he
added value to Marathi essay writing.
His literary essays such as 'Kavi, Kavya, Kavyarati' and 'Shakespeare,
Bhavabhuti and Kalidasa' have caught the attention of some critics today and
have made Agarkar a thinker who thinks in a scientific way about some of the
basic principles of literature.
His views on the special relationship between poetry
and sensations, the truth and classical truth in poetry, the compassion in
poetry, the poetic process and the process of composing poetry, etc. are
invaluable in this regard. His works are as follows: Translation of the play
Hamlet by Shakespeare (1883), Our 101 Days in the Hill Prison (1882),
Remarriage of Sheth Madhavdas Raghunathdas and Bai Dhankuvarbai (1907), Syntax
and Separation of Sentences.
In his lengthy preface to Vikarvilasita, he has
given his views on how to translate plays in foreign languages into Marathi. He
narrates his experiences of being
imprisoned with Tilak ,at Dongari in 1882 on the 'Kolhapur case' in a playful
and humorous manner in the Dongari jail. He was the first to bring a detailed
idea of the various components of a Marathi sentence and their interrelationships
in Marathi. Selected Essays in Kesari (1887) and Selected Essays in Reformers
(Collection of Essays 1895) have been published. Sahitya Akademi has also
published some of his articles. He
died of asthma in Pune ,17 June 1895
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