मराठी माझी माय माऊली : Reflections on Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Diwas : My Journey,My Pride
"लाभले आम्हास भाग्य बोलतो मराठी
जाहलो खरेच धन्य ऐकतो मराठी
धर्म, पंथ, जात एक जाणतो मराठी
एवढ्या जगात माय मानतो मराठी
आमुच्या मनामनात दंगते मराठी
आमुच्या रगारगात रंगते मराठी
आमुच्या उरात उरात स्पंदते मराठी
आमुच्या नसानसात नाचते मराठी ..."
-Kavivarya Suresh Bhat
Yesterday was Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Diwas and I found myself looking back on my life's journey with a language that greatly transformed my life.
Years ago, I earnestly prepared for the UPSC examination, dreaming of entering the Civil Services. I was deeply disheartened and full of self-doubt when success did not come. At that fragile moment, someone suggested that I appear for the MPSC examination.
The only hitch was my limited knowledge of Marathi which I felt could be my greatest stumbling block. I did not know the language well and its grammar was definitely daunting. Yet at times life’s biggest obstacles become its most meaningful teachers. I decided that if Maharashtra was offering me an opportunity, I would honour it by embracing its language wholeheartedly. With the support of my professor, Dr.Rekha Ranade, I learnt Marathi seriously, especially its grammar. I read, listened, practiced, and immersed myself in it. Slowly, what was once scary became comforting and a language that had once seemed like a barrier became a bridge.
I cleared the MPSC examination in flying colours with excellent marks in Marathi and was appointed as Deputy Collector. Marathi ceased to be merely a language I had learnt. It became the language I lived in, the language in which I listened to the grievances of the people, the language in which Maharashtra spoke to me.
Eighteen years as a Deputy Collector taught me something no textbook could, that language is not just words and grammar. It is a worldview. It is the way a self help group member describes her journey, the way a Vidarbha woman sings while winnowing grain, the way a Konkan grandmother narrates the exploits of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the way a project affected person seeks justice in rehabilitation. 'मराठी माझी माय माऊली' Marathi is my mother goddess. I had adopted her willingly, and she had embraced me completely.
February 27 is celebrated as Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Diwas , the Day of Pride for the Marathi Language in honour of the birth anniversary of the legendary poet Shri.Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar, lovingly known as Kusumagraj. It is a day when Maharashtra pauses to celebrate not just a language, but a civilisation.
Marathi is one of the oldest and richest languages of India, with a literary tradition stretching back to the 13th century. The saint-poets of the Varkari tradition Sant Dnyaneshwar, Sant Namdev, Sant Eknath, Sant Tukaram turned Marathi into the language of the common people's spiritual yearning. Sant Tukaram's abhangas did not merely praise the divine, they spoke truth to empower, gave voice to the voiceless, and wove philosophy into everyday life. This is the heritage that every Marathi speaker carries not as a burden, but as a blessing.
Conferring of Abhijaat (Classical) status upon Marathi is a recognition long overdue and deeply deserved. A language that produced the Dnyaneshwari, that nurtured the Maratha Empire's administrative genius, that gave the world Lokmanya Tilak's fiery journalism and Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's revolutionary thought is not merely classical in age, but classical and human in spirit.
Among the many privileges of public service are moments when one stands at the intersection of the past and the present. I was deeply honoured to attend the inauguration of the Granth Kutir at Rashtrapati Bhavan by the Hon'ble President of India, Smt.Droupadi Murmu, a sacred space where literature meets the highest office of the land.
The Granth Kutir houses several literary treasures, approximately 2300 in number, including Marathi.The presence of such literature within Rashtrapati Bhavan is not merely symbolic. It is an affirmation that Maharashtra's voice , its joys, its struggles, its philosophy are a part of India's national story.
Literature lifts the mind. A sensitive administrator who reads has empathy to understand others pain and imagine solutions beyond the boundaries of circulars and notifications. This belief drives our upcoming Maharani Tararani Mahila Adhikari Sahitya Sammelan, to be held on 11th and 12th April 2026 at New Maharashtra Sadan, Delhi in collaboration with Sarhad, Pune.
Named after the valiant Maharani Tararani ,the Maratha queen who defied the Mughal Empire with extraordinary courage after the death of Chhatrapati Rajaram and kept the spirit of Swarajya alive this first-of-its-kind literary conference brings together women administrators and literature in a powerful conversation. It honours the tradition of Maratha women who have never been passive witnesses to history, but its active shapers.
Maharani Tararani ruled not merely as a regent, but as a strategist, a motivator, and a protector of her people's dignity. Today, women administrators across Maharashtra carry forward that legacy in offices, in tehsil courts, in field visits to drought-affected villages. The Sammelan will celebrate this continuity, the unbroken thread between Tararani's sword and the modern woman officer's pen.
To live in Maharashtra is to live in a land where history breathes through every fort, every river, every name on every village well. It is to stand in Pune and feel Lokmanya Tilak's call to national awakening still echoing in the air. It is to walk through Nagpur and sense Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's constitution taking shape in those historic deliberations. It is to drive through the ghats of Raigad and see the vision of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj a just, inclusive, people-centric state , made real in stone.
Maharashtra is a land of glory reconciling ancient with modern, agrarian with industrial, deeply spiritual yet fiercely progressive. It is a land where the abhangas of Sant Tukaram are sung at the same sunrise where a young girl in Ahilyanagar prepares for her engineering entrance examination. It is a land where MSRLM's rural women's Self-Help Groups transform household economies channelling the same quiet power that Savitribai Phule embodied when she picked up her slate and walked to school.
And at the heart of it all is Marathi not merely as a medium of communication, but as the soul of this civilisation. When Marathi gushes through its people's veins as Suresh Bhat so magnificently expressed आमुच्या नसानसात नाचते मराठी it is not poetic hyperbole. It is a lived truth.
While it must be said with the utmost respect that language preferences can sometimes become a matter of unnecessary contention, we would do well to remember that language is, at its very core, a bridge of human communication and must always be honoured in all its diversity. Towering leaders such as the late Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao are a embodiment of this spirit as he had a command over thirteen languages. Encouraging our children to learn as many languages as possible is therefore important as it not only opens doors to the world but also enriches their cognitive development and brain health.
I came to Marathi as a stranger and became its daughter. The language gave me a second chance at my dream of serving the people. It gave me 18 years as a Deputy Collector and eventually the path to the IAS.
On this Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Diwas, my gratitude to this great language is boundless. It was my bridge over the darkest waters of failure. It is now my home.
जय महाराष्ट्र। जय मराठी।
Eighteen years as a Deputy Collector taught me something no textbook could, that language is not just words and grammar. It is a worldview. It is the way a self help group member describes her journey, the way a Vidarbha woman sings while winnowing grain, the way a Konkan grandmother narrates the exploits of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the way a project affected person seeks justice in rehabilitation. 'मराठी माझी माय माऊली' Marathi is my mother goddess. I had adopted her willingly, and she had embraced me completely.
February 27 is celebrated as Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Diwas , the Day of Pride for the Marathi Language in honour of the birth anniversary of the legendary poet Shri.Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar, lovingly known as Kusumagraj. It is a day when Maharashtra pauses to celebrate not just a language, but a civilisation.
Marathi is one of the oldest and richest languages of India, with a literary tradition stretching back to the 13th century. The saint-poets of the Varkari tradition Sant Dnyaneshwar, Sant Namdev, Sant Eknath, Sant Tukaram turned Marathi into the language of the common people's spiritual yearning. Sant Tukaram's abhangas did not merely praise the divine, they spoke truth to empower, gave voice to the voiceless, and wove philosophy into everyday life. This is the heritage that every Marathi speaker carries not as a burden, but as a blessing.
Conferring of Abhijaat (Classical) status upon Marathi is a recognition long overdue and deeply deserved. A language that produced the Dnyaneshwari, that nurtured the Maratha Empire's administrative genius, that gave the world Lokmanya Tilak's fiery journalism and Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's revolutionary thought is not merely classical in age, but classical and human in spirit.
Among the many privileges of public service are moments when one stands at the intersection of the past and the present. I was deeply honoured to attend the inauguration of the Granth Kutir at Rashtrapati Bhavan by the Hon'ble President of India, Smt.Droupadi Murmu, a sacred space where literature meets the highest office of the land.
The Granth Kutir houses several literary treasures, approximately 2300 in number, including Marathi.The presence of such literature within Rashtrapati Bhavan is not merely symbolic. It is an affirmation that Maharashtra's voice , its joys, its struggles, its philosophy are a part of India's national story.
Literature lifts the mind. A sensitive administrator who reads has empathy to understand others pain and imagine solutions beyond the boundaries of circulars and notifications. This belief drives our upcoming Maharani Tararani Mahila Adhikari Sahitya Sammelan, to be held on 11th and 12th April 2026 at New Maharashtra Sadan, Delhi in collaboration with Sarhad, Pune.
Named after the valiant Maharani Tararani ,the Maratha queen who defied the Mughal Empire with extraordinary courage after the death of Chhatrapati Rajaram and kept the spirit of Swarajya alive this first-of-its-kind literary conference brings together women administrators and literature in a powerful conversation. It honours the tradition of Maratha women who have never been passive witnesses to history, but its active shapers.
Maharani Tararani ruled not merely as a regent, but as a strategist, a motivator, and a protector of her people's dignity. Today, women administrators across Maharashtra carry forward that legacy in offices, in tehsil courts, in field visits to drought-affected villages. The Sammelan will celebrate this continuity, the unbroken thread between Tararani's sword and the modern woman officer's pen.
To live in Maharashtra is to live in a land where history breathes through every fort, every river, every name on every village well. It is to stand in Pune and feel Lokmanya Tilak's call to national awakening still echoing in the air. It is to walk through Nagpur and sense Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's constitution taking shape in those historic deliberations. It is to drive through the ghats of Raigad and see the vision of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj a just, inclusive, people-centric state , made real in stone.
Maharashtra is a land of glory reconciling ancient with modern, agrarian with industrial, deeply spiritual yet fiercely progressive. It is a land where the abhangas of Sant Tukaram are sung at the same sunrise where a young girl in Ahilyanagar prepares for her engineering entrance examination. It is a land where MSRLM's rural women's Self-Help Groups transform household economies channelling the same quiet power that Savitribai Phule embodied when she picked up her slate and walked to school.
And at the heart of it all is Marathi not merely as a medium of communication, but as the soul of this civilisation. When Marathi gushes through its people's veins as Suresh Bhat so magnificently expressed आमुच्या नसानसात नाचते मराठी it is not poetic hyperbole. It is a lived truth.
While it must be said with the utmost respect that language preferences can sometimes become a matter of unnecessary contention, we would do well to remember that language is, at its very core, a bridge of human communication and must always be honoured in all its diversity. Towering leaders such as the late Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao are a embodiment of this spirit as he had a command over thirteen languages. Encouraging our children to learn as many languages as possible is therefore important as it not only opens doors to the world but also enriches their cognitive development and brain health.
I came to Marathi as a stranger and became its daughter. The language gave me a second chance at my dream of serving the people. It gave me 18 years as a Deputy Collector and eventually the path to the IAS.
On this Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Diwas, my gratitude to this great language is boundless. It was my bridge over the darkest waters of failure. It is now my home.
जय महाराष्ट्र। जय मराठी।
R.Vimala, IAS,
Resident Commissioner & Secretary,
Government of Maharashtra &
PhD Scholar at IIT Bombay
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