Prarambh: The Beginning

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I feel greatly honoured to have been asked by the National Book Trust, India, to write this foreword to Professor Gadgil's Prarambh, a historical novel of epic proportion. He is senior to me in all respects, and hence introducing this magnum opus to non-Marathi readers is for me, a truly humbling experience.

Gangadhar Gadgil who spearheaded many a literary movement in Marathi is primarily known to have heralded (along with P.B. Bhave, Arvind Gokhle and Vyankatesh Madgulkar-famously called the 'Group of Four") a new era of modern Marathi short story. Urban settings, bold modern yearnings with psychological twists and turns in their characters' behaviour was their mainstay, thus these writers replaced the long-lingered romanticism in Marathi literature with stark realism.

Gadgil's creative urge, however, could not be restricted to the genre of short story alone. Now an octogenarian and the only survivor of the 'group of four', he has been an indefatigable experimenter. A consummate artiste, an argumentator par excellence, an insightful critic, whatever he tried his hand at, he has created if not controversies, at least ripples in contemporary Marathi literary world. Gadgil, however, has never been shy of controversies. He has strongly defended his own artistic visions and vehemently attacked eminent literary personalities and their creations by applying rigorous literary norms. Many of his literary creations, be they critical essays or creative works such as biographical novels or even auto-biographical writings, have been criticised but they could never be ignored. Whatever he has chosen to write has a stamp of originality, a true hallmark of a competent writer.

I have always believed that if Gadgil had opted to write in the English language, for he is a bilingual, he would have received a greater recognition and deservedly his writings would have reached a larger several other modern Indian languages. But non-Marathi readers are still audience. Not that he did not write in English at all. he has written humor-ous articles in English and some of his books have been translated into deprived of his major works.

With almost every other book of his, he has shaken the apathetic Marathi litterateurs, and created ripples followed by public discussions on the book, symposia and mild controversies of which Gadgil has never been averse to. Rarely does one come across in Marathi, an author who can so can do so, due to the his thoughts and artistic vision as also because of his strong artistic convictions. Many a time he provokes his readers and literary crities by come unconventional statements. But that he can even defend himself, is a sure sign of his high literary competence. When he wrote what may well be regarded as a classic Durdamya, a two volume biographical novel about Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, one of the earliest of that genre, critics as well as historians, pounced on him on several counts, Gadgil, however, proved more than a match to each one of them.

The main contention of the critics of Durdmaya was that while working on a biographical novel, the critical norms of both a fictional work and a biography, should be applied. If not, biographical novel could be the easiest literary form to handle, they felt. If one wishes to attempt a biography of a popular personality, one has to study the subject deeply, collect and collate all the information available and evaluate his contribution. This is the work of a historian. If one intends to write a full-length novel, one has to have an ability for flights of imagination to create a seemingly led life. Taking just a few events from a real life and filling the gaps by constructive imagination would not only be unfair to the protagonist of the novel but it would also be a distortion of history and therefore unworthy of an author's calling.

The present novel Prarambh seems to be Gadgil's conscious reply to his carping critics. This biographical novel, although it deeply deals with one of the architects, indeed the chief architect of modern Mumbai, Jagannath Shankarshet, popularly known as Nana Shankarshet, is in my opinion, essentially a biography of Mumbai itself. The twe are closely interwoven. For, even if Gadgil set out initially to write a novelized version of Jagannath Shankarshet's life, considering the wide backdrop of the newly emerging cosmopolitan centre of commercial and educational activity, it has turned out to be the biography of Mumbai itself. And this time Gadgil appears to be on a firmer ground. Born and brought up in Mumbai, and having now lived in Mumbai for almost eight decades, Gadgil has been a witness to the growth of Mumbai into a megapolis. Ile loves the city and has written extensively on various aspects of the history of Mumbai, its institutions and the builders of those institutions. Being a trained economist, he always found the success of Mumbai as a commercial capital of India, a fascinating subject. Proud Mumbaikar that he is, Gadgil has studied well the lives and works of those who have made Mumbai, the most advanced and progressive cosmopolitan city in the country a true urbs prima in Indes as it was called in the British Raj. The British always dreamt of making Mumbai the London of the East.

Mumbai's rapid growth and the causes of its subsequent decline has been a subject dear to Gadgil's heart. Mumbai, which became the capital of the newly constituted Bombay presidency, after the fall of Peshwa regime in 1818, opened a wide field for researchers and writers who wish to portray the transformation of a seemingly insignificant set of islands lying on the outskirts of successive kingdoms and dynasties in the Deccan. It is only after the British selected it for the development of its naturally protected harbour that Mumbai grew in size and stature. How it became a commercial capital of India from the middle of the 19th century is a subject that would appeal to a business historian. How it became a 'mini-India', would, no doubt interest a sociologist. How the Mumbaikars came to lead in matters educational, literary and cultural would surely interest a literary historian. For Gadgil who is an educationist, economist, historian, creative writer, truly a polymath, Mumbai stands for all that is good and worthy in the Indian tradition.

Mumbai was singularly fortunate in having Mountstuart Elphinstone, a visionary, as the first governor (1819-1827) of the newly created Bombay Presidency. He heralded a new age in Mumbai and dreamt of a better land and educated, civilized society. Taking cue from him, those who followed him continued his liberal policy and soon Mumbai started attracting people not only from the hinterland of the Deccan, but also from other parts of the country. A society that was reduced to dust due to internecine wars and infighting was rising anew in Mumbai and under enlightened administration was making progress in all walks of life. The shortcomings in local religions and traditions did not matter much in the beginning. The demoralized society was learning new lessons in corporate living. That was surely the beginning of a new era, which gave Gadgil the title of his ambitious novel Prarambh, which means 'the beginning'.