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''Gopal Ganesh Agarkar'' (14 July 1856 – 17 June 1895) was an Indian
social reformer A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...
, educationist, and thinker from
Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. At one time a close associate of
Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence ...
, he was co-founder of multiple educational institutes such as the New English School, the
Deccan Education Society The Deccan Education Society is an organisation that runs 43 education establishments in Maharashtra, India. Its main branch is situated in Pune. History In 1880 Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gopal Ganesh Agark ...
and
Fergusson College Fergusson College is an autonomous public-private college offering various courses in the streams of arts and science in the city of Pune, India. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society. Professor Vaman Shivram Apte was its fir ...
along with Tilak, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi, V. S. Apte, V. B. Kelkar, M. S. Gole and N. K. Dharap. He was the first editor of the weekly '' Kesari'' and founder and editor of a periodical, '' Sudharak''. He was the second Principal of Fergusson College and served that post from August-1892 until his death. A locality in Andheri,Mumbai is named after him as Agarkar Chowk


Early life

Gopal Ganesh Agarkar was born on 14 July 1856 in
Tembhu Tembhu is a small village situated on the eastern bank of the River Krishna, near Karad, in the Satara District of Maharashtra, India. Tembhu is the site of an Rs 9-billion irrigation project, set up in order to provide water to the droug ...
, a village in
Karad Karad is a city in Satara district of Indian state of Maharashtra and it is 320 km (180.19 miles) from Mumbai and 159 km from Pune. It lies at the confluence of Koyna River and the Krishna River known as the "Priti sangam". The ...
taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...
,
Satara district Satara district (Marathi pronunciation: aːt̪aɾaː is a district of Maharashtra state in western India with an area of and a population of 3,003,741 of which 14.17% were urban (). Satara is the capital of the district and other major towns ...
, Maharashtra. He was a friend of Nilkanth Tidke Agarkar was schooled in Karad and then worked as a clerk in a court there. In 1878, he got his B. A. degree, and in 1880 was awarded an M.A.


Social activism and Later life

He was the first editor of ''Kesari'', a prominent Marathi-language weekly newspaper founded by Lokmanya Tilak in 1880-81. Ideological differences with Tilak caused him later to leave. They disagreed on the primacy of political reform versus social reform, with Agarkar believing that the need for social reform was more immediate. He started his own periodical, '' Sudharak'', in which he campaigned against the injustices of untouchability and the Caste system. Agarkar abhorred blind adherence to and glorification of tradition and the past. He supported widow remarriage. From 1892 to 1895 he was the Principal of Ferguson college. Agarkar suffered from severe asthma his entire life and succumbed to it on 17 June 1895


Publications

* ''Futke Nashib'' (Biography) * ''Alankar Mimmansa'' (अलंकार मीमांसा) * ''Dongarichy Turangatil'' ''101 divas'' (1882) * Marathi translation of
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...


References


Further reading

* *Aravind Ganachari ��रविंद गणाचारी Gopal Ganesh Agarkar - The Secular Rationalist Reformer. Popular Prakashan, India. 2005. (3974)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agarkar, Gopal Ganesh Marathi-language writers Activists from Maharashtra 1856 births 1895 deaths People from Satara district Indian social reformers Writers from Maharashtra 19th-century Indian educational theorists Scholars from Maharashtra People of British India