New Delhi; 6: A unique personality as that of Bal Gangadhar Shastri Jambhekar, the pioneer of Modern Maharashtra, who unquestionably displays the remarkable energy and a man of rare distinction can be well understood after going through this brief article. We celebrate this Day that is 6th of January as Marathi Patrakar Din, because he is the premier Marathi Journalist, who published a Newspaper, ‘Durpan’ way back in 1832, the first bilingual fortnightly in Mumbai. We as journalists are indebted to him, when we study his valuable contributions towards the society in general and Marathi Journalism in particular.
Shri Jambhekar, the great son of Maharashtra was born in 1812 at Pombhurle village of Devgad Taluka in Sindhudurg District. He was an intelligent child, since his schooling and rose to become a great scholar and researcher in many subjects.
This brilliant son of Maharashtra lived only for thirty four years, but considering his marvelous nature and excellence of the varied works done by him in this short life are King Size. His exceptional works have left an indelible mark on India on a variety of subjects, which we would study further.
First Newspaper in Marathi Language – Durpan
Shri Jambhekar is undoubtedly called as 'Shastri' (Sanskrit Pandit). He took up the study of English and in few years, acquired complete mastery of that language, the science of Mathematics and many other branches of natural science.
However, this intellectual personality
was the First Indian to be appointed a Professor of Mathematics in the
Elphinstone college of Bombay. He
also wrote text books on Marathi Grammar. He was also nominated with 'Justice
of Peace', a rare distinction for an ordinary man in those days.
At a mere age of 22 years, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Hindi, although he never got an opportunity to attend a college even as a student, which becomes all the more noteworthy of his multifaceted talent and versatility.
In 1822 Mumbai Samachar came up followed by Bombay Herald. Ten years later, it was on 6th January 1832, that a Marathi bilingual fortnightly, ‘Durpan’ came up. This fortnightly newspaper was published by Shri Jambhekar which included Marathi and English Columns. This was the time, when majority of the population was illiterate. It was during the British rule. With an objective to enlighten the society towards patriotism, he started the work of this magazine with a noble interest towards educating the people and their interests. The efforts of Balshastri Jambhekar to enlighten the people were ably undertaken by Bhau Mahajan in his monthly journal ‘Digdarshan’. This magazine provided knowledge on many subjects. It was a monthly encyclopedia and the objective was to create a sense of enquiry among the readers. In the first edition of this magazine itself, he wrote on the importance of education system followed abroad so as to provide a platform to speak about the upliftment of this country, the welfare of people.
Durpan’ was published
for about eight years. Then he started a monthly, ‘Digdarshan’ in 1840. The
articles on variety of subjects along with the maps and the diagrams were
published in this magazine. Realizing the importance of the books for spreading
the knowledge, Shri Jambhekar acquired mastery over
subjects like Physics, Chemistry, History Geography, psychology, botany
and geology. He also knew several languages like Latin, Greek, French, Pension,
Arabic, Gujrati, Kanada, Telugu, Bengali and Hindi.
Father of Marathi Journalism
As his first publication was issued on 6th January1832, the day is celebrated as ‘Marathi Patrakar Din’.
Considering his valuable contributions and recognitions , Shri Jambhekar in a very short life span of 34 years left an indelible mark not just as an individual , but his varied and rich works attribute him as an Institution, widely respected across India in general and Maharashtra in particular.
Balshastri Jambhekar - A Social Reformer
Shri Jambhekar always remained in the forefront of the
movement of social and religious reform. He also strove for women’s education,
promotion of widow marriages, abolition of ‘sati’ custom and enlightening the
people against the superstition. Shri Jambhekar was a rare gem of the Nation.
Amarjyot
Kaur Arora
Deputy
Director (I/c)
Maharashtra
Information Centre
New
Delhi.
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