ICONIC historian and Padma Vibhushan awardee Balwant Moreshwar Purandare, popularly known as Babasaheb Purandare, died at a Pune hospital on Monday after a brief illness, a doctor said.
Purandare, 99, an authority on the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was admitted to the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital here in Maharashtra three days ago and was being treated for pneumonia.
He breathed his last shortly after 5 am on Monday, a statement from the hospital said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, and a host of other leaders expressed grief over the demise of Purandare and lauded his contribution in the fields of history and culture.
In the morning, the body was kept at the historian’s residence ‘Purandarewada’ in Parvati area here for people to pay their last respects.
Scores of people from all walks of life bid a teary adieu to the historian. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol were among those who paid homage to Purandare here. Known by his moniker ‘Shiv Shahir’ (Shivaji’s bard), Purandare was among the pre-eminent authorities on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Shivshahir Babasaheb Purandare leaves a major void in the world of history and culture :
‘Raja Shivchhatrapati’, Purandare’s popular two-part, 900-page magnum opus on Shivaji Maharaj in Marathi, was first published in the late 1950s and has since been a staple in Marathi households, going through numerous reprints over decades.
Purandare had also conceived and directed the theatrical history extravaganza on Shivaji Maharaj’s life titled ‘Jaanta Raja’ in the mid-1980s.
Born on July 29, 1922, Purandare was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour, in 2019.
The historian, who is survived by two sons and a daughter, was conferred with the Maharashtra Bhushan award in 2015.
Though Purandare is credited with taking the life and works of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to the masses through his research, he was also criticised by some Maratha outfits which had accused him of distorting facts about the Maratha king.
Some outfits like the Sambhaji brigade had protested the Government’s decision to confer the Maharashtra Bhushan award on him. Purandare’s ambitious project ‘Shivsrushti’, to depict important moments in the life of Shivaji Maharaj, was taking shape in Ambegaon area here under his guidance.