Biography of ‘Mahadev Govind Ranade’
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade was a distinguished Indian scholar, social reformer, and author. He was a founding member of the Indian National Congress and owned several designations as a member of the Bombay legislative council, a member of the finance committee at the center, and the judge of the Bombay High Court.
A well-known public figure, his personality as a calm and patient optimist would influence his attitude towards dealings with Britain as well as reform in India.
Ranade was born on 18 January 1842 in Niphad, a Taluka town in the Nashik district. He spent much of his childhood in Kolhapur where his father was a minister. He began studies at the Elphinstone College in Bombay (now known as Mumbai), at the age of fourteen. He belonged to Bombay University, one of the three new British universities, and was part of the first batches for both the B.A. (1862) and the LL.B. (Government Law School, 1866) where he graduated at the top of his class.
Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar was his classmate. Ranade later got his M.A. degree at the top of his class.
Ranade was a founder of the Social Conference movement, which he supported till his death, directing his social reform efforts against child marriage, the shaving of widows’ heads, the heavy cost of marriages and other social functions, and the caste restrictions on traveling abroad, and he strenuously advocated widow remarriage and female education. He was one of the founders of the Widow Marriage Association in 1861. Ranade attempted to work with the structure of weakened traditions, reforming, but not destroying the social atmosphere that was India’s heritage. Ranade valued India’s history, having had a great interest in Shivaji and the Bhakti movement, but he also recognized the influence that British rule over India had on its development. Ranade encouraged the acceptance of change, believing traditional social structures, like the caste system, should accommodate change, thereby preserving India’s ancient heritage. An overall sense of national regeneration was what Ranade desired. He died on 16 January 1901.
