B. S. Mardhekar

But his later avant-garde poetry brought about a storm in the Marathi literary world. His poem with the title "पिपात मेले ओल्या उंदिर" (Mice Died in the Wet Barrel) appeared in Abhiruchi (अभिरुची) magazine in 1946. Similar to what Baudelaire did in French poetry, Mardhekar brought a decadent urban ethos into Marathi poetry. Marathi bhakti (भक्ति) poetry and the poetry of T. Eliot and W. Auden had an influence on him. In 1948, he was charged and tried for obscenity for some of his poems in Kahi Kavita. He was declared innocent of these charges in 1952. Mardhekar was also an influential critic and an experimental novelist. He attempted to bring in the stream of consciousness technique in Marathi novels. He received in 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award for his work Saundarya ani Sahitya (A study of aesthetics) (सौंदर्य आणि साहित्य).

• Name — B. S. Mardhekar • Birth Name — Bal Sitaram Mardhekar • Born — 1 December 1909 • Birthplace — Faizpur, India • Died — 20 March 1956 • Place of death — Delhi, India • Citizenship — India • Known for — Introducing modernism in Marathi • Education — B.A. English language and literature • Alma Mater — University of Mumbai • Occupation — Poet, critic, dramatist, novelist, short-story writer • Spouse — Homai Nulliseth, Anjana Mardhekar • Awards — Sahitya Akademi Award

• Shishiragam (1939) • Kahi Kavita (1947) • Aankhin Kahi Kavita (1951) • Kiti Tari Divsat • Ala Ashadh Shravan

• Raatricha Divas (1942) • Tambdi Maati (1943) • Paani (1948) • Mardhekaranchya Kadambarya (1962)

• Karna (1944) • Natashreshta (1944) • Sangam (1945) • Aukshan (1946) • Badakanche Gupit (1947)

• Natashrestha Appasaheb Rele (1944)

• Satyakatha May 1956 • Nabhowani. Year 1, Issue 9, March 1971

• Dilip Chitre. An Anthology of Marathi Poetry (1945–1965) • Vilas Sarang. Poems of Mardhekar (For Private Circulation)