P. Y. Deshpande

Purushottam Yashwant Deshpande (popularly called P.Y. Deshpande, or simply P.Y), (December 1899 – 26, July 1986) was an Indian writer in Marathi. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Marathi language in 1962 for his philosophical work Anamikachi Chintanika (Meditations of an anonymous person).

Deshpande was known as a multi-faceted personality, who was at various times a novelist, journalist, political activist and a philosopher and commentator of Indian scriptures, besides being associated with the Krishnamurti school of philosophy. He also served as a member of the Provisional Parliament of India, between 1950 and 1952, representing Madhya Pradesh (which was formed out of the erstwhile Central Provinces and Berar, along with some princely states which acceded to India)

He was the father of Indian social activist and former member of the Upper House of the Indian parliament Nirmala Deshpande. His wife Vimalabai, also a poet, was a minister (parliamentary secretary) of Central Provinces and Berar, under the premiership of Ravishankar Shukla, at the time of Indian independence in 1947.

Early life

Deshpande was born in December 1899 in the town of Amravati, in the erstwhile Berar region in Central India (also known as Vidarbha). He was born the third son of Y.G. Deshpande, a prominent lawyer and a local aristocratic landowner. specifically attached to the Judicial Services of what was then the Berar Division. However, his stint was short-lived, and he quit his post by 1931, unable to tolerate what he saw was a high-handed attitude from his superiors in the judicial service.

The very same year, he formally joined an organization of freedom fighters called the Berar Youth League. Persuaded by Waman Gopal Joshi, who was then the regional president of the Berar Congress Committee, affiliated with the Indian National Congress, he joined active politics. Deshpande also found cause with the local peasants struggle. Berar was affected by a severe famine, during this period and Deshpande also agitated for famine relief and revenue exemption, which led to a brief imprisonment in 1932. Connecting these struggles with his readings of the philosophies of Marx, Engels and Lenin he started shifting towards communism. His novel Vishal Jeevan, published in 1933 dealt with the farmer's cause and his growing attraction towards communism.