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Dhondo Keshav Karve
धोंडो केशव कर्वे
Maharshi Karve — the father of women's education of Bhārat
Years
1858 – 1962
Known as
'Maharshi' Karve — the social reformer
Birthplace
Ratnagiri, Maharashtra
Field
Social Reformers
“No nation can rise above the level of its women.”
— Maharshi Karve
The Story
Born in 1858 in Ratnagiri, Karve was educated against the odds and became a professor of mathematics in Pune. The sorrow of his own life — his young wife's early death and the fate of the young widows around him — turned him to social reform, and he began a lifelong campaign for the dignity and education of women.
His acts matched his words: he married a widow, Godubai, at a time when the practice was condemned; he opened schools and hostels for widows; and in 1916 he founded the first university for women of Bhārat — the SNDT Women's University, which grew into one of the country's leading institutions of women's education.
He worked into his nineties, and the nation honoured him in 1958 with the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award. He died in 1962 at the age of 103 — a century of life given to the cause of womanhood of Bhārat.
Core Ideas
The SNDT University
Bhārat's first university for women, founded 1916.
The Widow Remarriage
He practised the reform he preached.
The Bharat Ratna
Bhārat's highest honour, conferred in 1958.
The Century of Service
He worked into his hundred and third year.
The Father of Women's Education
The name his life earned him.
Why it matters today
Maharshi Karve's SNDT Women's University still educates lakhs of women, and his birthday, 18 April, is observed as Maharshi Karve Jayanti. He is the proof that one man's determination can lift an entire half of a nation.