Madhav Julian


Madhav Julian was the pen name which Madhav Tryambak Patwardhan used in writing Marathi poetry.
He hailed from Maharashtra, India.

Biography

Patwardhan was born in 1894 in Baroda. He studied in The M.C High School in Baroda. He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1916 and 1918, respectively, by specializing in the studies of Pharsi and English literature.
During 1918–1924, he taught Pharsi at Fergusson College in Pune, and after serving as a high school teacher for the next four years, he joined Rajaram College in Kolhapur to teach Pharsi there for the next eleven years.
In 1926, he published a Pharsi-Marathi dictionary.
During his years at Rajaram College, Patwardhan wrote in Marathi a thesis titled Chhandorachana and received for it a D.Litt. Degree from Mumbai University in 1939, a few months before his death. He was the first person in India to receive a doctorate in the field of Marathi literature.
Patwardhan presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Jalgaon in 1936.

Poetry

Patwardhan was among pioneers like Keshavasuta, Govindagraj, and Bhaskar Ramchandra Tambe in Marathi literature who introduced romantic poetry to it and also introduced the themes of social and political reforms in Marathi poetry. They further introduced new forms of poetry writing in Marathi, including sonnets, gazals, and bhāvageete.

Patwardhan published ten collections of his poems. His first publication titled Wiraha-Taranga was a romantic Khandakāvya consisting of 234 shloka. His next publication titled Sudhāraka contained his satirical 18-chapter khandakāvya with the theme of social reforms.

The idea of linguistic purity

Patwardhan held the idea that Marathi writers must maintain linguistic “purity” in Marathi writing. He wrote a book titled BhashaShuddhi-Wiwek on that topic. He listed in it 1,200 words which were prevalent to different degrees in contemporary Marathi literature and which, he thought, ought not to be used any more in Marathi literature.