The Story Behind the Authentic Portrait of Adya Krantiveer Vasudev Balwant Phadke

 

(Painting by artist Shri Ravi Dev, courtesy of the M.E.S. website)

A film called  *Katha Don Ganpatraonchi* released a few years ago. Dilip Prabhavalkar, Mohan Agashe and other senior actors starred in it. The character Dilip Prabhavalkar plays in the film, Ganpatrao, keeps a record of everything that happens in his own life. But if you had to make one general statement about India's ancient history, it would be that we don't have many accurate, detailed records of it. Because of this, on some questions we can't take a clear stand on what the historical truth actually is. Getting hold of historical evidence, photographs and the like takes a lot of effort. This article tells the story of how the historical photograph of Adya Krantiveer Vasudev Balwant Phadke was found.

When it comes to keeping historical records, there is something to learn from the British. Let me share two experiences. Hon. Justice Ramesh Bapat, retired judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and an alumnus of our M.E.S. Abasaheb Garware College (known before 1972 as M.E.S. College of Arts and Science) and its hostel, once told me during a meeting that in 1662, the island of Bombay was given to the King of England as a gift at the time of his marriage. Soon after, the British set up their trading post there. Some of the important documents from that time are still preserved by the British. The second example comes from the late Vasudev Shankar Godbole, who lived in London and also told me about it during an in-person meeting. Vasudev Godbole was a researcher of the places Swatantryaveer Savarkar stayed in London, and of the events and history connected with them. About 75 years after the death of the revolutionary Madanlal Dhingra, Godbole received Dhingra's certificate from the college where he had studied. Anyway.

The Poona Native Institution of earlier days is today's Maharashtra Education Society. It had three founders: Adya Krantiveer Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Shri Waman Prabhakar Bhave and Shri Laxman Narhar Indapurkar. Of these, Vasudev Balwant Phadke served as treasurer at the time the institution was founded. Later, he plunged into revolutionary work. Unfortunately, he did not succeed. He was brought down by betrayal. He was captured, and in Pune he was convicted after a sham of a trial. He was imprisoned in Aden jail, in present-day Yemen, thousands of kilometres from India. Phadke tried to escape from there, but the attempt failed. He died in that very jail in Aden.

The year 2020 was the post-centenary Diamond Jubilee year of the Maharashtra Education Society. The institution had planned several initiatives for the occasion. One of them was to have authentic portraits of the founders made. The descendants of Waman Prabhakar Bhave and Laxman Narhar Indapurkar were contacted, and photographs were obtained from them. But the question of finding an authentic photograph of Vasudev Balwant Phadke remained. The picture of Vasudev Balwant Phadke holding a gun was, by and large, the one widely in circulation until then.

Another initiative of the Diamond Jubilee year was to write the institution's history and publish it as a book. Dr. Ketki Modak, a life member of the institution and a professor of Marathi, was working on the book with the help of many others. For this, she was drawing on the assistance of several experts in Pune. One of those who came forward to help was the history researcher Shri Mandar Lavate. Shri Lavate is an alumnus of M.E.S. Boys' School (Bhave High School). We discussed the matter with him, and he brought up many points. On the question of the photograph, Shri Lavate said that Shri Vishnupant Kale, who lived in Somwar Peth in Pune, had an authentic photograph of Vasudev Balwant Phadke. It was taken when Phadke was captured and brought to Pune. As for the well-known picture of Phadke with a gun, Shri Lavate's view is that it was probably drawn from imagination, not from the original photograph.

I lived in Mangalwar Peth from 1995 to 1997. I had known Shri Dhananjay Sudhakar Kale, an RSS swayamsevak there, since that time. I called Dhananjay right away and asked him. Dhananjay said, "Vishnupant Kale is my grandfather's cousin. But sadly, he passed away just yesterday. Once the *diwaskarya* is done, I'll talk to the family and then give you the photograph."

(Photograph of the late Vishnupant Kale, courtesy of the Kale family)

The late Vishnupant Kale worked at Elpro, a company in Chinchwad. He had a deep interest in history and social issues. He made it a habit to meet different experts and scholars in Pune and discuss things with them, to speak his mind actively on all kinds of subjects, and to debate in the spirit of the saying "*vade vade jayate tattvabodhah*" (truth emerges through debate). He also collected all kinds of historical items. Many years ago, Shri Lavate had written an article on Ganeshotsav in a newspaper. The response to that article led to an introduction and meeting between the late Vishnupant Kale and Shri Mandar Lavate. That was how Shri Lavate came to know about Kale's collection of historical items.

Another side of the late Vishnupant Kale was that in the later years of his life, he and his wife ran a daycare for very young children for a few years. The aim wasn't to earn money. The couple did this work for a nominal fee, simply to help working women.

After the late Vishnupant Kale's *diwaskarya* was over, the Kale family lent the authentic photograph to M.E.S. for a few days. The well-known Pune artist Shri Ravi Dev drew the portrait of Vasudev Balwant Phadke from it. Shri Dev also drew portraits of Shri Waman Prabhakar Bhave and Shri Laxman Narhar Indapurkar. These three portraits have been used as the standard reference at M.E.S. for the past 5–6 years.

Sudhir Gade, Pune

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(AI Translation)