Swadeshi movement in India: With special reference to Maharashtra

Swadeshi movement was one of the major events in the History of Indian Freedom Movement. It was started in 1905 as an agitation against the partition of Bengal and it spread to other parts of the country including Maharashtra. The Slogans of Swaraj, the concepts of boycott, National Education and the spirit of Swadeshi were spread from Bengal to Maharashtra along with other regions. The main objective of the present paper is to study the Swadeshi movement in India with special reference to Maharashtra. The primary sources such as Kesari and Subodh Patrika news papers and the secondary sources such as published books and articles are utilized for the present study. The study highlights the role of Maharashtra in Swadeshi movement and finds that though the use of Swadeshi brought in 1905, it was used for the first time in Maharashtra in 1716 during the period of Peshwa by Goudpad Charya in Nasik and the Swadeshi initiative was started in Maharashtra by Shankar Shashtri Gokhale and Bhau Wadekar, the residents of Poona, in 1846. The celebrations of Ganapati utsav, Sivaji festivals were one of the important moves in the history of the freedom movement in Maharashtra.