Anant "Dajikaka" Gadgil ( September 11, 1915 – January 10, 2014) was an Indian

jeweller A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stone setting, engraving, fabricat ...

, industrialist and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

. He is best known for

founding Founding may refer to: * The formation of a corporation, government, or other organization * The laying of a building's Foundation * The casting of materials in a mold See also * Foundation (disambiguation) * Incorporation (disambiguation) In ...

the P. N. Gadgil Jewellers & Company in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

in 1958.

Early life and family

Gadgil was born on September 11, 1915, in

Sangli Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks ...

, to Ganesh and Yashoda Gadgil (née Mahajan), of the Gadgil ''

gharana In Hindustani music (North Indian classical music), a ''gharānā'' is a system of social organisation in the Indian subcontinent, linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and more importantly by adherence to a particular mus ...

'' of Dongare-Kondhe. His mother was his father's third wife, and Gadgil had two sisters. He had three

half sibling A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separat ...

s through his father's second and fifth marriages. Gadgil married Tarabai Abhyankar, and the couple had two daughters and a son. She would adopt the name Kamalabai upon marriage. He was a great-grandson of Ganesh Gadgil, and a nephew of Purshottam Narayan Gadgil.

Career

Gadgil initially began work as a

at the P. N. Gadgil Jewellers & Sons store in

in 1938, moving to Pune to set up a branch of the family business at Laxmi Road in 1958. During his lifetime, he was lauded for his business acumen and philanthropic work by his contemporaries and the press, most notably for surviving his business through The Gold Act of 1968, and fundraising for victims of the

1993 Latur earthquake The 1993 Latur earthquake struck India at 3:56 am local time ( UTC+05:30) on 30 September. The main area affected is the districts of Latur and Osmanabad, including the Ausa block of Latur and Omerga of Osmanabad in Maharashtra, Western India. ...

. Gadgil was the recipient of several awards throughout his career; most notably being lauded by the

Pune Municipal Corporation The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC, IAST: Puṇe Mahānagarpālikā) is the civic body that governs the inner limits of Pune, India. It is in charge of the civic needs and infrastructure of the metropolis, which is spread over an area of 48 ...

on several occasions, receiving the Rotary Excellence Award from the Rotary Club of Pune, and was awarded an honorary

fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

by the

World Gold Council The World Gold Council is the market development organisation for the gold industry. It works across all parts of the industry, from gold mining to investment, with the aim of stimulating and sustaining demand for gold. They frequently publish ...

. In 2007, he published an autobiography entitled ''Think Pure...''. In 2009, he co-authored a book in

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

on the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

river entitled ''Ganga''.

Death and legacy

Gadgil died on January 10, 2014, aged 98, in

. He was succeeded in business by his son and grandson. In late 2014, the Dajikaka Gadgil Gold Museum was opened at the P. N. Gadgil Jewellers store in

Hadapsar Hadapsar is a developed town in eastern Pune City, Maharashtra. After 1990, Hadapsar developed into a major industrial area and is now one of the most densely populated and developed areas of Pune District. It is well connected to all parts of ...

. In August 2016, he became the namesake of the Dajikaka Karandak, an inter-collegiate

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in wri ...

competition.

List of works

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gadgil, Dajikaka 1915 births 2014 deaths Marathi people Indian jewellers Indian industrialists Businesspeople from Pune 21st-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian male writers English-language writers from India Marathi-language writers Indian company founders 20th-century Indian businesspeople Writers from Pune People from Sangli