Bore: 18 April 1858
Died: 9 November 1962
Dhondo Keshav Karve was born on 18th April 1858, in Ratnagiri (Maharashtra), to a Brahmin family. He pursued his Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Elphinstone College, Pune. In 1891, he started his career as a Professor of Mathematics at Fergusson College, Pune and continued till 1914.
Shri Dhondo Keshav Karve was inspired by many people like Pandita Ramabai, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar etc and always wanted to do something for the cause of women upliftment and empowerment.
Founded by Karve in 1893, ‘Widhawa-Wiwahottejak Mandali’ promoted widow remarriage and also took care of their children. After two years i.e. 1895, the institution was renamed as ‘Widhawa-Wiwaha-Pratibandh-Niwarak Mandali’ or Society for Removal of Restrictions on Re-marriages of Widows.
In 1896, he established the first school for widows which was named as “Hindu Widows Home Association” which was both a shelter and a school for them. It was located outside Pune, in the remote village of Hingane as the orthodox Brahmin community had shown Karve Ji out for supporting widow remarriage and education. Parvatibai Athvale, his sister-in-law who was a 20-year-old widow was the first student of the school. Having limited financial resources, despite facing opposition and criticism, Karve collected small funds to run the school by teaching at Fergusson College, for several years.
His devotion in the field of women’s welfare earned him the designation ‘Maharishi’, which means a great saint, and soon he came to be known as Maharishi Karve. Some people also called him Anna Karve (Anna in Marathi means one’s father or an elder brother). Being a social reformer in the field of women’s welfare Anna advocated widow remarriage by marrying a widow. In his honour, Karvenagar in Pune & Maharshi Karve Road is named after him.
Anna had done many remarkable works for the welfare of Women some of which are listed below.
- He established a ‘Mahila Vidyalaya’, School for Women, in 1907.
- He started ‘Nishkam Karma Math’ for training inmates of the widows’ home, in 1908.
- He established the first university for women in India, in 1916 which was inspired by the Women’s University in Tokyo, Japan which was started in Pune with five students.
- He established a Training College for Primary School Teachers and another school for girls named ‘Kanya Shala’, in 1917.
Anna Karve was a pioneer in giving education to widows, thus, founded Indian Women University. In 1955, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Vibhushan for his contributions to the Country. In 1958, i.e. the year of his 100th birthday, the Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna, which is the highest civilian award.
Bharat has long been a country that worships goddesses, yet we need Inspiring Personalities such as Maharishi Karve who was a social reformer in the field of women’s welfare in spite of the stiff challenges he faced. Swami Vivekanand Subharti University remembers Anna on his birth anniversary.