1909

Mahadev, the second son, is born. Dada enters into partnership with Seth Purushottam Das Mavji to open his Laxmi Printing Press in Dadar, Bombay. Leaves for Germany seeking higher technology in printing and on his return, prints "Swarnamala", a Marathi monthly, the first to use three colour process. Gets additional work from the Times of India.

But before we talk about Painter's prolific record as a studio painter, we must remember that both he and Anandrao began their careers as painters of stage curtains and designers of theatrical decor in well known companies of the time. In Bombay, in 1909-10, Keshavrao Bhosale ( actor producer) commissioned Anandrao to paint the "scenery" of his major productions. During this time, Baburao was running a photography studio in Anandbaug. The two joined hands and successfully completed the commission. :

Peary reaches the North Pole

The Indian Councils Act, 1909 ( Minto Morley Reforms) is announced, introducing elections while trying to split the nationalist movement along communal lines by introducing seperate electorates. Ananda Coomaraswamy publishes Essays in Nationalist Idealism. The Amateur Dramatics Association is started in Bangalore, associated with playwright T.P.Kailasam and stage actor-director Ballari Raghava, bringing modernism to Kannada theatre. Performance in Bengal of Dwijendralal Roy's historical, Shah Jehan. Together with Rana Pratapsingha (1904), Durgadas ( 1906), Noor Jehan ( 1907) and Mewar Patan ( 1908), Shah Jehan anchors the stage historical in communal and nationalist politics.

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1909 in phalke's journey

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Murder of Mr. Jackson, Collector of Nasik

The atmosphere of Nasik was no doubt exceptionally favourable for such morbid growths. For Nasik is no ordinary provincial town of India. It is one of the great strongholds of Hinduism. Its population is only about 25,000, but of these about 9,000 belong to the Brahmanical caste, though only about 1,000 are Chitpavan Brahmans, the rest being mainly Deshastha Brahmans, another great sept of the Deccanee sacerdotal caste. It is a city of peculiar sanctity with the Hindus. The sacred Godavery--so sacred that it is called there the _Ganga_--i.e. the Ganges--flows through it, and its bathing _ghats_ which line the river banks and its ancient temples and innumerable shrines attract a constant flow of pilgrims from all parts of India. Indeed, many of the great Hindu houses of India maintain there a family priest to look after their spiritual interests. Nasik was, moreover, a city beloved of the Peshwas, and, next to Poona preserves, perhaps, more intimate associations with the great days of the Mahratta Empire than any other city of the Deccan. But though no doubt these facts might account for a certain latent bitterness against the alien rulers who dashed the cup of victory away from the lips of the Mahrattas, just as the latter were establishing their ascendency on the crumbling ruins of the Moghul Empire, they do not suffice to account for the attitude of the people generally in presence of such a crime as the assassination of Mr. Jackson. For if murder is a heinous crime by whomsoever it may be committed, it ranks amongst Hindus as specially heinous when committed by a Brahman. How is it that in this instance, instead of outcasting the murderer, many Brahmans continued more or less secretly to glorify his crime as "the striking down of the flag from the fort"? How is it that, when there was ample evidence to show that murder had been in the air of Nasik for several months before the perpetration of the deed, not a single warning, not a single hint, ever reached Mr. Jackson, except from the police, whose advice, unfortunately, his blindly trustful nature led him to ignore to the very end? How is it that, even after its perpetration, though there was much genuine sympathy with the victim and many eloquent speeches were delivered to express righteous abhorrence of the crime, no practical help was afforded to the authorities in pursuing the ramifications of the conspiracy which had "brought disgrace on the holy city of Nasik"?

All this opens up wide fields for speculation, but there is one point which a statement solemnly made by the murderer of Mr. Jackson has placed beyond the uncertainties of speculation. In reply to the magistrate who asked him why he committed the murder, Kanhere said:--

  I read of many instances of oppression in the _Kesari_, the
  _Rashtramat_ and the _Kal_ and other newspapers. I think
  that by killing _sahibs_ [Englishmen] we people can get justice.
  I never got injustice myself nor did any one I know. I now
  regret killing Mr. Jackson. I killed a good man causelessly.

( from Indian Unrest by Valentin Chirol, published 1910) 'Pandit' Jackson was going to the Native theatre when he was shot by a young Chitpavan from Aurangabad- Ananta Laxman Kanhere. ( akin to Lincoln? in Griffith's film)