 PROGRAMMES - Gujarati Saraswats
Kakasaheb Kalelkar
 Kalelkar Dattatreya Balakrishna Rajadhakshya was born on the 1st December 1885 in Satara (Maharashtra). He had 5 brothers and one sister, who died at a very young age. His father was a very religious man hence Kakasaheb was also exposed to detailed religious poojas of the lord, although he was not an extraordinary student, he studied till college and joined Fergusson college (Poona) to do his BA in Philosophy. However the roots to fight for the country’s freedom were born right from his school days. He was an ardent fan of Lokmanya Tilak’s revolutionary ideas. He was also influenced by the writings of Swami Vivekanand. In 1909 he joined Ganesh Vidyalaya in Belgam as a teacher, and then joined as an editor of ‘Rashtramat’daily. In 1911, he went to Baroda to become a principal of ‘Gangnath Vidyalaya’ .Harassed and pestered by the rulers, Kaka Saheb disappeared from active life calling himself ‘Sadhu Dattatreya’ and went into the Himalayas and wandered on foot for over 2500 miles. This showed introvert and self analyzing personality, passionate love for his country, tremendous faith and his wish to become one with nature. He completed his journey in Nepal. This trip helped him to rejuvenate his enthusiasm for doing something for the freedom movement all over again. He experimented his various ideas in ‘Rishi-Kul’,’Kagandi Guru-Kul,’’Prem-Vidyalayo’,’Sindhu Brahmachayashram’ Schools. And then invitation by Shanti Niketan, he joined there as a teacher and was lovingly called ‘Dattybabu’by Rabindranath Tagore. During this time Gandhiji visited Shanti Niketan and took Kaka Saheb with him to join his Satyagraha Ashram (Sabarmati). Here kakasaheb started writing in chaste Gujarati and emerged as a writer par excellence, in a language, which was not even his mother-tongue. In 1924, his book ‘Himalaya na Pravase’made him immensely popular, Gandhiji fondly called him ‘Swai Gujarati’. His study on Geeta, His travelogues, his essays and philosophical writings became extremely popular.
Although Kakasaheb has not written in Bengali his knowledge of the language was so thorough that he translated and interpreted Tagore’s work in his book ‘ Ravindra Pratibha’ and Ravindra Saurabhi ‘. On his 80th birthday Kakasaheb was honoured in Rashtrapati bhavan by President Radhakrishnan. In the same year he was awarded for his book ‘Param Sakha Mrityu’(This book has been translated in almost all languages).
On 21st Aug’1981, at the age of 96, Kakasaheb left for his heavenly abode.
Indicative List of Books By Kakasaheb Kalelkar
- Awarnawar
- Ugamno Desh
- Otarati Diwalo
- Geeta Dharma
- Jeevta Tahevaro
- Jeevan Chintan
- Jeevan No Anand
- Jeevan Pradeep
- Jeevan Leela
- Dharmodaya
- PurvaAfrica ma
- Bapu Ni Jhankhi
- Brahmadesh No Pravas
- Manavi Khandieyaro
- Meetha Na Pratape
- Rakhadwano Anand
- Ravindra Saurabh
- Shri Netramanibhai Ne
- Sankalita Bhagwatgeeta
- Smaranyatra
- Himalaya No Pravas
- Upasthan Ane Tarpan
- Gandhi Pariwar Na Jyotirdharo
- Chi Chandan Ne
- Prasangeek Pratisaad
- Bhajananjali
- Jeevan No Anand
- Jeevan Vikas
- Jeevan Sanskruti
- Jeevan Bharti
- Param Sakha Mrityu
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