Dhondo Keshav Karve

Maharshi Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve was a preeminent social reformer of his time in India in the field of women’s welfare.
Karve was one of the pioneers of promoting women’s education and the right for widows to remarry in India. The Government of India recognized his reform work by awarding him its highest civilian award, Bhārat Ratna, in 1958 (Incidentally his centennial year).
The appellation Maharshi, which the Indian public often assigned to Karve, means ”a great sage”. Those who knew Karve affectionately called him as Annā Karve. (In Marāthi-speaking community, to which Karve belonged, the appellation Annā is often used to address either one’s father or an elder brother.)

Early life

Annasaheb Karve was born on 18 April 1858 at Sheravali, Khed Tālukā of Ratnāgiri district in Mahārāshtra. He was a native of Murud in the Konkan region. He was born in a lower middle-class Chitpāvan Brahmin family. His father’s name was Keshav Bāpunnā Karve. In his autobiography, he wrote of his struggle to appear in a certain public service examination, walking 110 miles in torrential rain and difficult terrain to the nearest city of Sātārā, and his shattering disappointment at not being allowed to appear for the examination because he looked too young.
Karve studied at Elphinstone College in Bombay (Mumbai) to receive a bachelor’s degree in mathematics[1][2].

First Marriage

Karve’s parents arranged his marriage when he was 14 to an 8 year old girl named Rādhābāi. Karve had written in his autobiography:
“… I was married at the age of fourteen and my wife was then eight. Her family lived very near to ours, and we knew each other very well and had often played together. However, after marriage, we had to forget our old relation as playmates and to behave as strangers, often looking toward each other but never standing together to exchange words…. We had to communicate with each other through my sister…… My marital life began under the parental roof at Murud when I was twenty…”.
Radhabhai died in 1891 during childbirth at age 27, leaving behind a young son named Raghunath Karve. Raghunath became a visionary social reformer.