At one point in the text, Kashikar, one of Benare’s accusers castigates Dhondo Maharshi Karve, saying he is one of the people who has “ruined our society” (66). Who is this figure, and why would Kashikar utter such strong words about him?
Karve was commonly known as Maharshi Karve and was one of the most important reformers in post-Independence India. In particular, he worked tenaciously for widows’ rights and the abolishment of caste discrimination.
Born in 1858 to a distinguished family, he nonetheless grew up in straitened conditions and his parents faced many debts. He studied in Murud, a small coastal village. There he met his teacher, mentor, and friend, Vinayak Lakshman Soman. Soman was a nationalist and impressed upon Karve the need to read newspapers and be up-to-date on current events.
The ambitious Karve was ready to take his teacher’s exam when he was seventeen, but he had to wait one more year. He married, took the exam, earned a scholarship, and continued to study in Mumbai. He graduated from Elphinstone College in Mumbai in 1884.
Karve eventually began teaching at St. Peter’s School and worked to ensure boys from his hometown received an education. His wife helped take care of the youth, but she fell ill and died. Karve joined Fergusson College in Puna in the math department and remained there from 1891 through 1914. In 1893, he formed the Widow Marriage Association, and in 1896, he worked to promote widows’ education and financial autonomy by founding the Hindu Widows Home; his sister-in-law, recently widowed, was the first person to join.
After his retirement, he began the Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University, which was intended to help with women’s literacy. In 1936, he established the Maharashtra Village Primary Education Society for younger generations, as well as the Samata Sangh/Association for the Promotion of Human Equality in 1944 to focus on adult education. During these decades, Karve toured India and even embarked on an international tour in 1929, meeting Einstein in Berlin.
Karve’s reputation as an iconoclast was sealed when he married a widow; such women were often targets of India’s virulently patriarchal society. Swarajya Mag relates the difficulty of this choice: “Karve’s act of marrying a widow was not liked by the more orthodox sections, and was the hot topic of discussion in many newspapers. When Karve, along with his wife Anandibai, visited Murud the villagers boycotted him and passed a resolution forbidding everyone from interacting with him. Karve could not even speak to his mother, brother or sister...Karve’s mother and brother did not visit his home, even when they came to town, nor was he informed when his mother was seriously ill. The courageous act of marrying a widow came at a terrible personal cost for Karve.”
Karve was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award, in 1958; he was the first living person to be commemorated on a stamp in post-Independence India. He died November 9, 1962, at the age of 100. His last words were, apparently, “If Swarajya (or self-government) is to lead to the welfare state, there is one ‘mantra’ (sacred utterance) – a mantra proclaimed in our ancient writings, the mantra of the consideration for the good of all.”
