Mukundraj : Marathi poetry’s foremost poet

Mukundraj’s VivekSindhu, published in the year 1188, was the first Marathi book to be published.

Till this book, all classical and scholarly discourses that were published were written in Sanskrit. There was no practice of writing books in the local Marathi language. Due to this common Marathi populace was oblivious of the vast ocean of knowledge that was available in the Sanskrit language. 

Mukundraj realized the necessity to make this ocean of knowledge available into Marathi. And this is why Mukundraj ignored all ordains of his time and wrote his book in Marathi. 

After Mukundraj’s venture, all great poets and writers till the eighteenth century displayed courage and capability in writing poetry and philosophical discourses in Marathi. Mukundraj was the forerunner who tied the first links between Vedic culture and Marathi culture.