Krushnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar ((Devanagari

Devanagari

Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...

: कृष्णाजी प्रभाकर खाडिलकर) (1872 - 1948) was a Marathi

Marathi people

The Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...

 writer from Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Khadilkar was born on November 25, 1872 in Sangli

Sangli

Sangli is a city in the state of Maharashtra of India. Sangli is known as the Turmeric city for its vast production of Turmeric. Sangli is situated on the banks of river Krishna and is the largest market place for Turmeric in Asia and houses many sugar factories, which it is also noted for...

. At age 15, he wrote a novel, and the next year he wrote a play. He received his B.A. degree in 1892 from Deccan College

Deccan College

Deccan College may refer to:* Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute * Deccan College of Engineering and Technology * Deccan College of Medical Sciences, a medical college in Hyderabad, India....

 in Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

. Out of his abiding interest in plays, he closely studied during his college years the plays of Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 and English playwrights.

In 1897, Khadilkar joined the editorial staff of Lokmanya Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Lokmanya Tilak –, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called the great leader "Father of the Indian unrest"...

's daily Kesari (केसरी). His thoughts and writing style so much matched those of Tilak that the readers of Kesari never knew as to which of the two had written the editorials appearing in the newspaper. At one time, the British authorities ruling over India at that time charged Tilak with writing some “inflammatory” editorials criticizing them. Those editorials had in fact been written by Khadilkar.

During 1908-10, Khadilkar served as the chief editor of Tilak's English daily Maratha (मराठा) besides serving on the editorial board of Kesari. In 1910, he left the editorship of both Kesari and Maratha, but returned to work as the editor of Keasari during 1917-20.

After Tilak's death in 1920, Khadilkar worked as the editor of daily “Lokamanya” (लोकमान्य) during 1921-23. In 1923, he founded daily Nava Kal

Nava Kaal

Nava Kaal is a Marathi daily newspaper. It is based in Mumbai, the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Its owner editor is Nilkanth Khadilkar. Robin Jeffery has called Khadilkar as one of the most remarkable and self-reliant owners of small newspapers...

 (नवा काळ). His editorials in Nava Kal strongly supported the freedom struggle of India under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...

, who had assumed the leadership after Tilak's death. In 1929, British authorities imprisoned Khadilkar for a year for the "crime" of disloyalty to the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

.

Khadilkar presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan

Marathi Sahitya Sammelan

Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan is a conference for literary discussions by Marathi writers. Though the conference has sometimes been held in a town outside the Indian state of Maharashtra, it is typically held annually in one of the towns in Maharashtra where Marathi is the mother tongue...

 at Nagpur

Nagpur

Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...

in 1933.

He died on August 26, 1948.

Plays

The following is the list of Khadilkar's plays:

• Savai Madhavrao Yancha Mrutyu (सवाई माधवराव यांचा मृत्यु)
• Bhaubandaki (भाऊबंदकी)
• Kanchangadachi Mohana (कांचनगडची मोहना)
• Manapman (मानापमान)
• Swayamvar (स्वयंवर)
• Keechak-Wadh (कीचकवध)
• Menaka (मेनका)
• Widyaharan (विद्याहरण)
• Sawitri (सावित्री)
• Draupadi (दौपदी)
• Sawati Matsar (सवतीमत्सर)
• Satwa Pariksha (सत्त्वपरीक्षा))
• Bayakanche Banda (बायकांचे बंड)
• Tridandi Sanyas (त्रिदंडी संन्यास)