Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar

Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar (Devanagari: विष्णु सखाराम खांडेकर) (January 19, 1898 – September 2, 1976) (V. S. Sakharam Khandekar) was an eminent Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.

Early life

Khandekar was born in Sangli, Maharashtra. His father was a munsif in Sangli principality. In his early life, he was interested in acting in dramas and staged several dramas in his school days.

Professional and literary life

In 1920, Khandekar started working as a school teacher in a small town, Shirode, in the present-day Sindhudurg district of the Konkan region in Maharashtra. He worked in that school until 1938. While working as a teacher, Khandekar produced in his spare time abundant Marathi literature in various forms. In his lifetime, he wrote sixteen novels, six plays, around 250 short stories, 50 allegorical stories, 100 essays, and over 200 critiques.

Honors and awards

In 1941, Khandekar was elected as the president of the annual Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (Marathi Literary Conference) in Solapur. In 1968, the Government of India honored him with a Padma Bhushan award in recognition of his literary accomplishments. Two years later, he was also honored with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship of the Indian Sahitya Akademi. Shivaji University at Kolhapur, Maharashtra conferred on him an honorary degree of D.Litt. In 1998, the Government of India issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor.

Major works

Khandekar's novel Yayāti...
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