दक्षिणी मराठी खजाना

​

The Marathi School and the Maharashtra Association Building Trust, a socio-educational organization was founded in the year 1934 by Late Dr. M. Devaji Rao, Late Dr. (Mrs) Krishna Bai Nimbkar and other veteran Maharashtrians of yesteryears, with the objective of spreading culture, social upliftment, language, literature, education and above all ‘National integration’.  The cultural activities were conducted under the head ‘Maharashtra Association’, and this was one of the most popular premier cultural organizations in Madras, bringing together, people of all castes, creeds, religions and economic strata.

The Maharashtra Association founded its ladies wing, called ‘Mangala Samaj’ and celebrated various festivals especially for women. The gathering at the Trust premises used to be very large and brought unity among different people, with due credit to the cooperation extended by the Marathi Samaj and the Maharashtra Mandal.  The cooperation extended by stalwarts like Sri Purushotham Joshi, Smt Indira Bai Khadilkar, Sri Dandekar, and many others are recorded in the books of the Trust.

In the early 80s, the organization was given a revamp by a new team, which  chalked out new plans, like the publication of the Maharashtra Panchanga, providing financial assistance towards eye operation for the poor and the crowd puller much acclaimed programme Bhaktha Bhajan Sammelan, as part of Sri Samartha Ramdas Navami Celebrations, which has grown to an Annual Cultural Festival, where traditional Maharashtrian folk and cultural programmes like, Gondal, Bharud, Keerthan etc., are held.   The Maharashtra Association conducted its 29th Annual cultural festival in February this year.

The traditional programmes like Sri Rama Navami, Ganesh Chaturthi and Gudipadava our new year were held at the Association premises in Triplicane.  For the past two decades, Ganesh Chaturthi and Gudipadava are celebrated in cooperation with our sister organisation, the Mahratta Education Fund, Alwarpet, Chennai, to minimize confusion and also add convenience of the attending public

The Maharashtra Association feels proud in having published two books “Bhajana Mala” and “Manache Sloka” both in the bilingual form, Marathi and Tamil, to help the local Maharashtrian and Non-Maharashtrian populations.  In this context, we are proud that we have published two more books entitled, “Stories of Maharashtrian poojas and festivals” and “Marriage customs of South Indian Maharashtrians”, both authored by Late Sri P Bhavanisankar Rao, a Great Maratha awardee. 

The Maharashtra Association has been celebrating Chhatrapathi Shivaji Jayanthi every year.  Govt. of Maharashtra declared 19th February as the date of Shiv Jayanti, but we have chosen to celebrate along with the Maharashtra Divas, that is the 1st of May every year, for uniformity and other conveniences.  We have conducted various programmes like, oratorical, essay and painting contests for the children, seminars, keerthans, harikatha kalakshepams, bhajans all in connection with Chhatrapathi’s life, so that his ideals and character are popularised.  Considering the age of the young hero, Shivaji Maharaj who became the Chhatrapathi at the tender of 10, it was decided to encourage young artists in the field of arts, and has been providing the stage for the first time stage performance, so that this will be the first stepping stone for the achievement and to mention the name who has really become popular is Sri Swarna Rethas, a popular carnatic vocalist of Chennai.  He is the principal disciple of Sri Sanjay Subramaniam, a famous carnatic vocalist of Chennai.  Achievements are generally limited to a few.  Chhatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj, was a great achiever and in that connection, the Maharashtra Association decided to recognise people who have come up the ladder of their lives with distinction, with an award called “The Great Maratha Award” for lifetime achievement and contributions to the society.  The Maharashtra Association has been honouring since 2003,  and  today we are going to witness the award ceremony of yet another great, Sri Narain Rao Jadhav.

From the year 2011, we have been recognising and honouring young achievers in various fields, with Young Maratha Award. 

This organization is extremely happy for its association with the greats, like Sri Mavlankar, Sri Chintaman Deshmukh, Sri CP Ramaswamy Iyer, Dr. Smt. Rajani Rai, Former Lt. Governor of Pondicherry, Dr. P. C. Alexander, Former Governor of Tamilnadu and Maharashtra, and Hon’ble Judges Sri N. Krishnaswamy Reddiar, Sri V S Sirpurkar, Sri S. Mohan, Sri Rajeswaran, industrialists like Sri R. S. Sawant, Sri Ashok Joshi, great banking heads like Sri. D. V. Ballal, Sri A. G. Joshi, Sri. Prakash Joshi and Sri Ashok Dugade, Administrative officers like Sri N Vittal, IAS, Former Chief Vigilance commissioner of India, Sri. G. V. Ramakrishna, Former chairman of SEBI, Sri T S Krishnamurthy and Sri N. Gopalaswamy, Former Chief Election Commissioners of India and Sri Vijay Pingale, IAS, Special Officer and Managing Director, Co – Optex.  We have had the privilege of having Tax assessors also,  Sri Padmakar More and Sri M Srinivasa Rao, commissioners of Income Tax department as chief guests in the past. 

​

8888888888888888888