Ganesh Narayan Kolhatkar, a Maharashtrian Brahmin, started publishing Maharashtra-Mitra from Baroda & then Satara (Maharashtra) in 1867. The nationalist overtones of the newspaper were not a secret. The newspaper started preaching the need for Indian made clothes from the very start. A government report on 14 November 1868 said, “The Maharastra Mitra of the 12th November, exhorts his countrymen to raise a large capital by shares, and set up weaving machines in different parts of the country, and not to depend upon articles prepared by the looms of England and other European countries. The Sattara paper attributes the present rise, prosperity, and supremacy of the English nation to commerce, and says that those who wish to be remembered in the future history of India, ought not to shrink back from undertaking this work.”
Kolhatkar was also close to famous Indian revolutionary Vasudev Balwant Phadke. Kolhatkar’s son C. G. Kolhatkar later recalled, “It was while he was in Baroda service that the famous revolu- tionary Vasudev Balwant Phadke stayed with him incognito for some time. In Vasudev’s obituary notice in the Maharashtra-Mitra my father later wrote, “He was famous after 1879. We regret that circumstances make it impossible for us to write anything in his praise.”
It should be noted that within a decade of 1857, Kolahatkar was spreading messages of nationalism. In an article titled, “Imaginary Conversation between a Hindu and an Englishman”, he wrote;
“Englishman: What gives you the right to utter such bold words?
Hindu: We have learned from writers like Mill, who tell us the truth and make us resolute.
Englishman: And what do they say?
Hindu: They say that one can oppose government officers with justification only under two conditions. The first is that there remains no other resort but revolution. The second is that there should be no doubt about the ultimate success of the party one joins.
Englishman: How long is this senseless talk to go on?
Hindu: Until the nation again gives birth to fathers like James Mill and sons like John Stuart Mill.”
The similarity between teachings of Kolhatkar and Mahatma Gandhi doesn’t end at Charkha and Indian made clothes.
Gandhi is also remembered for amalgamation of Hindu and Muslim prayers. His “Ishwar Allah Tero Naam” defines the very idea of Indian secularism and communal harmony. Kolhatkar can be attributed for preaching this idea in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
Ganesh Narayan Kolhatkar left Achyut Balwant Kolhatkar, his nephew, as his heir. Achyut headed the Mahrashtra-Mitra and preached nationalism. About Achyut, C. G. Kolhatkar writes, “He (Achyut) used to teach Sanskrit and history and was very conscientious in his work. Though he was a social reformer, he was also an ardent student of ancient books. He used to go through the streets of Satara accompanied by his wife, which shocked the traditionalists in this orthodox town. He even gave a religious discourse in a neighbouring temple but introduced many innovations like the Urdu song, “The Lord Allah is the protector of the whole world,” which he used as his main theme. Naturally the use of the name of the Muslim God Allah in a Hindu temple shocked many people. But he delighted in thus shocking people’s sensitivities and soon took up another song, “The God Shiva put the moon around his neck” — and so the audience was happy again.”
It is no secret that hand-spinned clothes and secularism became the cornerstone of Mahatma Gandhi’s movement. Gandhi was actually a fulfilment of Ganesh Kolhatkar’s prophecy made in 1868 that “those who wish to be remembered in the future history of India, ought not to shrink back from undertaking this work (of making clothes in India and boycott British made cloth)”.
(The research & views expressed are personal of the author)
