मती भानामती

by Narendra Dabholkar

142 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2014

About the author

Narendra Achyut Dabholkar (1 November 1945 – 20 August 2013) was an Indian rationalist and author from Maharashtra. He was the founder-president of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), an organization set up to eradicate superstition in 1989. Triggered by his murder on 20 August 2013, the pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in the state of Maharashtra, four days later.

Dabholkar was born on 1 November 1945 to Achyut and Tarabai, being the youngest of ten siblings, the eldest was the late educationalist, Gandhian and socialist Devdatta Dabholkar. He did his schooling at New English School Satara and Willingdon College, Sangli. He was a qualified medical doctor, having obtained an MBBS degree from the Government Medical College, Miraj.

He was the captain of the Shivaji University Kabaddi team. He had represented India against Bangladesh in a Kabaddi tournament. He won the Maharashtra government's Shiv Chhatrapati Yuva Award for Kabaddi.

He was married to Shaila and has two children, Hamid and Mukta Dabholkar. His son was named after the social reformer Hamid Dalwai. He didn't believe in Vastu Shastra and built his house without any regards to the principles of Vastu Shastra. He also criticised extravagant marriage ceremonies and arranged for his own children to be married in simple ceremonies. The almanac was not consulted to select an auspicious time as it is traditionally done. Dabholkar was also an atheist.

Dabholkar had faced several threats and assaults since 1983 but had rejected police protection.
“If I have to take police protection in my own country from my own people, then there is something wrong with me, I'm fighting within the framework of the Indian constitution and it is not against anyone, but for everyone.”
— Dabholkar on rejecting police protection

Murdered on 20 August 2013, while out on a morning walk, Dabholkar was shot down by two unidentified gunmen near Omkareshwar temple, Pune at 7:20 AM IST. The assailants fired four rounds at him from a point blank range and fled on a motorcycle parked nearby. Two bullets hit Dabholkar in his head and chest. He later succumbed to his injuries while being treated at Sassoon Hospital.

Dabholkar had originally donated his body to a medical college. But, the autopsy made necessary by his murder left the slain leader's body unfit for academic purposes. He was cremated in Satara without any religious rites. His pyre was lit by his daughter, Mukta, in contradiction to the tradition where the son lights the pyre. His ashes were collected without any religious ceremony and scattered over his organic farm.