Yashwant Dinkar Pendharkar


Yashwant Dinkar Pendharkar was a Marathi poet from Maharashtra, India. He wrote poetry under the pen name Yashwant.
Pendharkar was born on 9 March 1899, in the town of Tarale in Satara District. Before finishing his school education at the City High School of Sangli, he discontinued it out of unfavorable financial circumstances. He moved to Pune to take up clerical jobs to support himself. While working, Pendharkar read Marathi literature widely, and developed love for reading especially poetry and also composing his own poetry.
At the 1921 Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Baroda, Pendharkar met Madhav Julian and Shridhar Ranade, and the three formed a friendship based on common literary interests. The three lived in Pune and started frequently meeting for literary discussions. Soon Gajanan Tryambak Madkholkar, Shankar Kanetkar, and D. L. Gokhale joined the meetings, and the group eventually identified itself as Ravikiran Mandal.
Ravikiran Mandal popularised Marathi poetry in Maharashtra during approximately 1922-35 through public poetry recitals by member poets. Pendharkar had both a melodious voice and a talent for presenting his recitals very effectively.
In 1940, Maharaja Pratap Singh Gayakwad of the princely state of Baroda honored Pendharkar by naming him as Raj Kawi --state poet.
Pendharkar, a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Mumbai in 1950.

Literary work

Pendharkar wrote poetry with romantic, social, and nationalitic themes. He also wrote some poetry for children
The following is a list of collections of Pendharkar's poems and prose writings: