Many boys came from Murud, one of them was Raghunath Paranjpe, who later served as Indian ambassador to Australia. His wife Radhabai was a great source of support, and Karve ensured that boys from his hometown were not deprived of education. Karve worked for sometime at Elphinstone High School in Mumbai, but not liking the atmosphere there, he later joined St.Peter’s School, and he would walk to it daily. Karve created a small fund which he used for development of Murud village, setting up roads there, as well as an English High School. This was out of his own struggles with poverty, he knew first hand how it was. When Karve started wrking, he ensured at least a part of his income was set aside for charity. Finally after years of struggle, Dhondo Karve graduated from Elphinstone College in Mumbai in 1884.Īt Mumbai he made friends with Narhari Pant, who also helped him to overcome his shyness in talking to other people. He himself took up tuitions to earn on his own. With his father passing away, Dhondo’s brother Bhikaji, used to help him out. Wishing to have a better education, Karve, continued at Mumbai, and fortunately managed to get a scholarship, as he had come 5th in the entrance test. He was already married at this time to Radhabhai. He however wrote it the next year at Kolhapur and passed the exam. When he finally reached Satara, he was not allowed to write the exam, as he was not 17 years old still. Unable to travel all the way by sea to Mumbai, he choose to trek the long route to Satara, that took 4 days, and involved crossing the Sahayadris. It was a lesson he learnt, and in future ensured that whatever organization he worked with, the accounts would be managed carefully.ĭhondu later wanted to appear for the examination that would enable him to be a teacher, and he had two choices, either Mumbai or Satara. Dhondo also set up a small shop with a capital of 800 Rs that he collected, however due to his lack of experience in maintaining accounts, the shop had to be closed down. Soman felt that the village people should know what is going on in the rest of the country, and every evening he would make Dhondo read out the newspapers at the local temple.
Soman, guided Dhondo in his studies, and he also was a nationalist too. You are not born in a family which seeks gifts! Among your forefathers there were many learned men but they never accepted a gift from anybody.ĭhondo began his studies in Murud, a small seaside village in Ratnagiri district, from where he hailed, and it was there he met Vinayak Lakshman Soman, his teacher and also his mentor. Once when the Maharaja of Baroda was gifting away cows, along with 10 Rs to every Brahmin, he asked his mother, whether he could also go and accept. Though growing up amidst poverty and struggle, Dhondo’s mother taught him never to compromise on self-respect. Dhondo grew up reading religious works like Gurucharitre and Shiva Leelamrita in his strictly religious household.
Keshava Pant took up employment as a clerk near a landlord, in the small town of Koregaon, in Satara district. Though an aristocratic, well off family in the past, they had fallen on hard times, when he was born and were only saddled with debts to pay. Like a lamp that keeps glowing till it’s end, to give light to others, Karve, lived for others, spread light in their lives and wore himself out slowly.ĭhondo Keshav Karve, was born on April 18,1858 to Keshava Pant and Laxmibai in Ratnagiri district, located in the Konkan. For the 100 odd years of his life on earth, he lit the lamps in the lives of many a child widow, and women, fought for their emancipation. “It is better to light a lamp in the darkness, than curse it” and that is what Karve did. One among them was Dhondo Keshav Karve, also known affectionately as Annasaheb. But there was a time, when the Bharat Ratna, did go to the truly deserving. The Bharat Ratna, now has become a bit of a joke, with the considerations being more political, than anything else. The late 19th century and early 20th century had seen many reform movements in India, first starting from Bengal, which then began to spread to other states.
In my previous article, I had written about Kandukuri Veeresalingam, who pioneered widow remarriage in Andhra Pradesh, and also championed women’s education.