Baba Padmanji Mule, better known as Baba Padmanji (1831 - 29 August 1906) was an Indian writer, novelist, religious preacher and

Protestant Christian Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible sourc ...

reformer in the 19th-century Bombay Presidency, who is known for contributing to

Marathi literature Marathi literature is the body of literature of Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra and written in the Devanagari and Modi script. History Early history As a written language, Marathi is probably ...

. He is known for converting to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

from Hinduism in his early twenties and is considered the father of Christian literature in

Marathi language Marathi (; , 𑘦𑘨𑘰𑘙𑘲, , ) is a Classical languages of India, classical Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra and is also spoken in Goa, and parts of Guj ...

. He has published over a hundred books. His novel ''

Yamuna Paryatan ''Yamuna Paryatan'' (, English: ''Yamuna's journey'') is a Marathi novel written by Marathi Christian missionary Baba Padmanji. It was published in 1857. The book praises the teachings of Christianity by describing the miserable condition of Hi ...

'' is the first independent social novel in

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

Life and work

He was born in May 1831 in

Belgaum Belgaum (Kannada ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma'', ), officially known as Belagavi (also Belgaon), is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located near its northern western border in the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters ...

(now in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

) to a

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

family. He attended a Christian missionary school in his hometown, where he developed his interest in

. He went to complete his education at the Bombay Scottish Mission's Wilson School in 1849. Later, Baba worked as a teacher at the Free Church High School in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, where he taught

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

and other Christianity related subjects. He was mentored by Murray Mitchell,

John Wilson John Wilson may refer to: Academics * John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism * John Wilson (agriculturalist) (1812–1888), British agriculturalist * John Matthias ...

and Narayan Sheshadri. He was ordained Pastor at the Free Church in 1867, serving the Free Church of Pune till 1872. He also owned a printing press called Victoria Press in Bombay. He headed various Christian journals and magazines and authored more than 100 Marathi texts on Christian themes. In 1877, he rose to prominence for producing the first

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

(New Testament) translation with commentary made by native Christians. He died on 29 August 1906 and was buried at the Christian cemetery at

Sewri Sewri (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Śivdī,'' Help:IPA/Marathi, �iʋɖiː is a locality along the eastern edge of South Mumbai, in Maharashtra, India. It is also the name of a Sewri railway station, railway sta ...

, in Bombay.

Bibliography

Some of his notable works include ''Streevidyabhyas Nibandh'' (1852), ''Vyabhichaar-Nishedhak Bodh'' (1854), '' Yamunaparyatan'' (1857), ''Sarvasangrahi urf Nibandhmala'' (1860), ''Shabdaratnavali'' (1860), ''Maharashtradeshachya Sankshipt Itihaas'' (1866), ''Streekanthabhushan'' (1868), A Comprehensive Dictionary of English and Marathi (second ed. 1870), ''Krushna Aani Khrista Yanchi Tulana'' (1873), ''Navya Kararavar Tika'' (1877) and ''Udgarmargvidnyan'' (1878). He authored an autobiography titled ''Arunodaya'' (Ascent of the Sun), published in 1888. ''Arunodaya'' was translated into many languages. Some scholars consider his book '' Yamunaparyatan'' (1857) to be the first independent novel published in Marathi.

References

External links

''Baba Padmanji: His times and work''
(A biography book written by KC Karhadkar)
''Arunodaya: The Autobiography of Bãbã Padamanjí'', 1944
(An autobiography) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mule, Baba Padmanji Indian Christian writers Indian Christians Indian religious writers Marathi-language writers 1831 births 1906 deaths People from Belgaum Writers from Maharashtra Scholars from Maharashtra People from British India