Remembering Maharshi Karve on his birth anniversary, a pioneer in promoting widows' education

Mumbai: Dhondo Keshav Karve was an Indian social reformer and educator, widely remembered for supporting the women's education and for organizing associations for the remarriage of Hindu widows.

Popularly known as Maharshi Karve- the man who pioneered women empowerment in India was born on 18 April 1858 in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

A mathematics teacher at Fergusson College, Pune, Karve- a modern thinker initiated the campaign to break the orthodox thinking of then society's view on widow remarriage, for that he established the Widow Marriage Association in 1893. That year itself going against the conservative ritual of the society, he married a widow. His first wife had died in 1891.

In 1896, the reformer from Maharashtra also founded an educational institution, Hindu Widows Home in Pune, to help widows support themselves if they could not remarry.

Karve became increasingly concerned with illiteracy amongst women, so, on his retirement from Fergusson College in 1916, he started Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women’s University in Mumbai, the first women's university in India.

He later widened his social reform efforts to include the establishment of societies for village primary education and the abolition of caste.

Karve’s autobiography, 'Atmavritta' was published in 1915.

On his 100th birth anniversary in 1958, he was awarded India’s highest civil honour, the 'Bharat Ratna'.