Kaka Saheb Kalelkar
A commemorative postage stamp on the Birth Centenary of Kaka Kalelkar, an Indian freedom fighter, social reformer and journalist, major follower of philosophy and methods of Mahatma Gandhi :
Issued by India
Issued on Dec 2, 1985
Type : Stamp, Mint Condition
Colour : Multi colour
Denomination : 50 Paise
Printed at : India Security Press
Name : Dattatreya Balkrushna Kalelkar
Born on Dec 1, 1885 at Satara, Maharashtra, India
Died on Aug 21, 1981
About :
- Dattatreya Balkrishna Kalelkar popularly known as Kaka Saheb Kalelkar was born at Satara in Maharashtra on 1st Dec. 1885. His father was a highly respected Treasury Officer in the British Government.
- At the age of 17, Kaka Saheb passed his matriculation and joined Fergusson College at Poona from where he took B.A. Hons. Degree in Philosophy. About this time, he came in touch with secret political societies and began his clandestine revolutionary work in 1906. His greatest influence during those days were the writings of Swami Vivekanand and Lokmanya Tilak. Kaka Saheb carried a name by his articles in ‘Chikitsak‘ and Lokmanya Tilak invited him to join his Marathi Daily ‘Rashtra–Mat‘, published from Bombay. This Daily was however soon ordered to be closed by the British rulers and Kaka Saheb went to Baroda in 1911 to become Principal of “Gangnath Vidyalaya”. However, this school was also ordered to be closed down by the British.
- Harassed and pestered by the rulers, Kaka Saheb disappeared from active life calling himself “Sadhu Dattatreya” and went into the Himalayas and wandered on foot for over 2,500 miles, covering Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Amarnath and Nepal. His restless spirit took him to Belur math and then to Shantiniketan where he joined the teaching staff and was affectionately called “Dattubabu” by Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore. Gandhiji came on a visit to Shantiniketan and took Kaka Saheb with him to join his Satyagrah Ashram in a village called Kocharab near Ahmedabad. From Kocharab Gandhiji shifted his Ashram to Sabarmati where Kaka Saheb blossomed forth as a writer of chaste Gujarati, a language which was not even his mother-tongue.
[…] the first Convocation of the Sabha was also held in 1931. The convocation address was delivered by Kaka Kalelkar. Prominent leaders and Hindi scholars such as Munshi Premchand, Babu Purushottam Das Tandon, Dr. […]