Mumbai University convocation hall photo 16

Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar (2 December 1855 – 4 May 1923) was an early

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

politician and

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

reformer. He was regarded by some as the "leading Hindu reformer of western India".''Modern Religious Movements in India''
by J. N. Farquhar - Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 43, No. 2, Book Review Supplement (Jun., 1975), pp. 349-351

Early life

Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar was born in

Honavar Honnavar is a town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India. History Honnavar is a port town in Coastal Karnataka known for its beautiful landscapes and rich history. The port hosted foreign traders from the Arab world, as well as later ...

in the Bombay Presidency on 2 December 1855. His maternal uncle was Shamrao Vithal Kaikini, another notable reformer from the

Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin Chitrapur Saraswats are a small Konkani-speaking community of Hindu Brahmins in India. They are traditionally found along the Kanara coast and call themselves ''Bhanaps'' in the Konkani language. This is a small community from India spread th ...

community. He served as a Dakshina Fellow in

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1823, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the ed ...

for some time before earning a law degree in 1881. Shortly before the Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, N. G. Chandavarkar went to England as a member of the three-man delegation. The group was sent to educate public opinion about India right before general elections took place in England. Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar
- Congress Sandesh G.L. Chandavarkar writes

Career

He was the vice chancellor of the university of Bombay.He was elected the president of the annual session of the

in 1900 and one year later he was promoted to the high bench at the Bombay High Court. He took a break from politics for the next twelve years and devoted his time to the judicial system and various social groups till 1913. The main social group he worked with was the

Prarthana Samaj Prarthana Samaj or "Prayer Society" in Sanskrit, was a movement for religious and social reform in Bombay, India, based on earlier reform movements. Prarthana Samaj was founded by Atmaram Pandurang in 31 March 1867 when Keshub Chandra Sen vi ...

("Prayer Society"). He took the leadership reins from Mahadev Govind Ranade after the death of the latter in 1901. The organization was inspired by the

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of t ...

and was involved in the modernization of Hindu society. Chandavarkar was knighted in the 1910 New Year Honours List.London Gazette, 21 January 1910
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Return to politics

He returned to the realm of

Indian politics Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary democratic secular republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the prime minister of India is t ...

in 1914. A schism in the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in 1918 came to separate the organization into two camps. Chandavarkar became the head of the ''All-India Moderates Conference'' in 1918 along with Surendranath Banerjea and Dinshaw Wacha. In 1920 "he presided over the public meeting held in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

to protest against the report of the Hunter Committee on the

Jallianwala Bagh Jallianwala Bagh is a historic Bāgh (garden), garden and ‘memorial of national importance’ close to the Harmandir Sahib, Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, India, Punjab, India, preserved in the memory of those wounded and killed in ...

atrocities which was appointed by the Government of India."

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

was inspired by this to move a resolution on the topic. Later, on Chandavarkar's advice,

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

called off his Civil Disobedience campaign in 1921.

Notable quotes

*Noting the general trend of Hindu reform movements in the early twentieth century he remarked

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandavarkar, Narayan Ganesh Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka 1855 births Marathi people Hindu law jurists People from Uttara Kannada Presidents of the Indian National Congress 1923 deaths Judges of the Bombay High Court Knights Bachelor Indian Knights Bachelor Hindu reformers 19th-century Indian politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 19th-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian judges Members of the Bombay Legislative Council Prarthana Samaj