His doctoral thesis titled Shtsthal: Ek Adhyan was completed under the guidance of Ramchandra Shankar Walimbe.
Dhere wrote over 100 scholarly books, including some edited or translated works of others, on Marathi folk literature and culture, reconstruction of cultural history of places, religious sects in Maharashtra, and biographies of marathi saints.
Dhere lost almost all of his collection of old books in 1961 when the Panshet Dam broke flooding the city of Pune.
[6] Dhere received a Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987 for his literary criticism Shri Vitthal: Ek MahaSamanvay.
[10] The highly influential book was translated to English by Anne Feldhaus and published by Oxford University Press in 2011.