Vishnupant Moreshwar Chatre
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Vishnupant Moreshwar Chatre (1840-1905) was an Indian circus owner who is considered the founder of the modern Indian circus.[1] His circus company Great Indian Circus was the first circus company in India. Chatre met martial arts trainer Keeleri Kunhikannan when Great Indian Circus toured Thalassery, Kerala in 1887. During the visit Kunjikannan and Chatre signed an agreement, according to which Kunjikannan agreed to train trainees for the circus and Chatre agreed to employ them.[1] This led to the development of the first circus academy in the country.[2]
He was born in a small village called Ankalkhop in Sangli, Maharashtra. His father, Moreshwar Chatre, was the treasurer at the palace of Jamkhandi.[3] Since childhood Chatre loved birds and animals.
At the urging of his father, Chatre got married at the age of sixteen.[3] After marriage he got job at stable of Ramdurg Palace.[3] Later, he gone to Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. There he got a job at the palace stable. At Gwalior, Baba Sahib Apthe, a horse trainer, taught him horse characters, horse training methods etc. At Gwalior, under Ustad Hadhu Khan, he also studied Hindustani classical music.[3]
After leaving Gwalior he became in charge of the stables of Balasahib Patwardhan, the king of the Kurundwad princely state of Sangli.[4] Balasahib also helped Chatre to form his circus company. He trained his second wife Avuda Bai Parulelkar in single trapeze, acrobatics and animal training.[3][5]
In 1890, after handing over circus charges to his brother, Chatre settled in Indore with his classical music master Ustad Rahmat Khan.[3] He was an acute diabetic patient. He died on February 20, 1905, at Indore.[3]