Maharashtra remembers Legendary Poet Balshastri Jambhekar on his birthday today 6 January

Maharashtra remembers Legendary Poet Balshastri Jambhekar on his birthday today 6 January

Today, 6 January, the Nation remembers veteran Poet Balshastri Jambhekar on his Birth Anniversary.

Notably, it was Balshastri who started the first Marathi newspaper “Darpan” on 6th January 1832. The last issue of Darpan was published in July 1840. The State of Maharashtra
Celebrates today celebrates ‘Patrakar Din’.

Balshastri launched Darpan with the help of Govind Kunte (Bhau Mahajan), predominantly published in Marathi language.

In a bid that English rulers could understand the problems and feelings of the locals, a column was also written in ‘Darpan’.
Balshastri encountered difficulties to run the newspaper and to gain readership was a very difficult task amid the British rule.

Initially, ‘Darpan’ did not get a large number of subscribers initially, as the concept of a newspaper was not rooted in the minds of common people at that time.

However, as this concept took root in society, so did the thoughts in it and the response kept increasing. Moreover, during the British Era, reformers ran their newspapers by not accepting any principle of profit and Balshastri Jambhekar’s Darpan was the pioneer of such newspapers.

News Input K.V.Raman