Veteran Malvani poet Digambar Gavkar, author of 'Garhana', dies

Devgad: Digambar Ganu Gavkar, the veteran poet who kept the Malvani dialect and the folk culture of Konkan alive in his verse, has died in Mumbai. A native of Girye village in Devgad taluka, his death has been mourned across literary and cultural circles in Konkan.

The nature of Konkan, its people and above all the struggles and culture of the seafaring Gabit community lay at the heart of Gavkar's writing. He knew the community's joys and sorrows, the sweetness of its speech and the region's old customs at first hand, and turned those experiences into poetry.

He wrote prolifically in Malvani. His collection 'Garhana' was especially popular, and gave literary standing to the traditional garhane, the invocations offered before deities in Konkan. His poems were known for the authentic tang of Malvani, an easy conversational style and wry humour.

Local writers paid tribute, saying his death was a great loss to the Malvani language and that they had lost a senior guide.

Source: Pudhari