(Arun Naik, Bapurao Naik's elder son speaks at the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh kickstarting Bapurao Naik's centenary year celebrations).
There were regional literary institutions in Maharashtra. The first was Pune’s Marathi Sahitya Parishad. The second was Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh. Vidarbha joined us in 1956. So did Marathwada. Nagpur had Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh and Aurangabad had Marathwada Sahitya Sangh. There was no coordination. No standardisation in shudhdha-lekhan. The annual sammelans were not truly representative. My father and Datto Waman Potdar took the initiative to form the Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal. All literary institutions were brought together. Later Goa, Baroda, Indore, Gwalior, Hyderabad, also joined.
