Annabhau Sathe
Annabhau Sathe (1 August 1920 – 18 July 1969) was a social reformer, folk poet, and writer from Maharashtra, India.[1] Sathe was a Dalit born into the Mang (caste), and his upbringing and identity were central to his writing and political activism.[2]
Writings
Despite lacking formal education, Sathe wrote 35 novels in the Marathi. They include Fakira (1959), which is in its 19th edition and received a state government award in 1961. There are 15 collections of Sathe's short stories, of which a large number have been translated into many Indian and as many as 27 non-Indian languages. Besides novels and short stories, Sathe wrote a play, a travelogue on Russia, 12 screenplays, and 10 ballads in the Marathi powada style.[1]
Sathe's use of folkloric narrative styles like powada and lawani helped popularise and make his work accessible to many communities. In Fakira, Sathe portrays Fakira, the protagonist, revolting against the rural orthodox system and British Raj to save his community from utter starvation.[1] The protagonist and his community are subsequently arrested and tortured by British officers, and Fakira is eventually killed by hanging.
Politics
Sathe was initially influenced by communist ideology and later shifted toward Dalit activism following the teachings of B. R. Ambedkar, and used his stories to amplify the life experiences of Dalits and workers.[3]
Sathe inaugurated a Dalit Sahitya Sammelan (Literary Conference) held at Mumbai in 1958; in his inaugural speech he said that "The earth is not balanced on the snake's head but on the strength of Dalit and working-class people," emphasising the importance of Dalit and working-class people in global structures.[3]
Sathe's stories were testaments to Dalit self-respect and resistance, and he is quoted as saying that Dalit literature and "Dalit writers are entailed with the responsibility of liberating and shielding Dalits from the existing worldly and Hindu tortures as the long standing conventional beliefs cannot be destroyed instantly."[3]
