Kesari is a Marathi newspaper founded in Pune on 4 January 1881 by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and colleagues. Agarkar edited it first. Under Til…
The New English School group launched The Mahratta in English on 2 January 1881 and Kesari in Marathi on 4 January. Agarkar edited Kesari; Tilak edited The Mahratta.
Forged letters about the Kolhapur regent led to a defamation conviction on 16 July 1882. Tilak and Agarkar served four months in Dongri jail.
Agarkar wanted social reform first, Tilak political freedom first. Agarkar left in 1887 and started Sudharak. Kesari became Tilak's paper.
Tilak helped make Ganesh worship a public festival and set up the Shivaji Fund Committee in 1895. Kesari promoted both as stages for political ideas.
Kesari printed the Famine Relief Code's revenue rules and told cultivators who could not pay not to sell land or cattle to do it.
Kesari printed Shivaji's Utterances on 15 June, a week before Rand was shot. A 6-3 jury convicted Tilak under Section 124A and he got 18 months.
Two Kesari editorials after the Muzaffarpur bombing led to Tilak's arrest on 24 June. A 7-2 jury convicted him and Justice Davar sentenced him to six years' transportati…
Tilak was released on 16 June 1914, carrying the manuscript of Gita Rahasya. N.C. Kelkar had kept Kesari running.
Tilak founded the Home Rule League. When officials demanded a Rs 20,000 security over his speeches, Jinnah argued his case and won on 9 November 1916.
After 81 years as a weekly, bi-weekly (1929) and tri-weekly (1951), Kesari became a daily in 1962 under Jayantrao Tilak.
The Kesari Maratha Trust publishes Kesari daily from Kesari Wada. The sedition law used against it was replaced in 2024.
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