Pandurang Vaman Kane (; 7 May 1880 – 18 April 1972) was an Indian academic, historian, lawyer,
Indologist
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...
, and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
scholar.
He was awarded the ''
Bharat Ratna
The Bharat Ratna (; ) is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distin ...
'', India's
highest civilian award in 1963.
Kane's academic career spanned for more than four decades, and included a tenure as the
vice-chancellor
A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...
of the
University of Bombay
University of Mumbai is a public university, public List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, state university in Mumbai. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest univ ...
,
from 1947 to 1949. He is known for his ''
magnum opus
A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship.
Historically, ...
'', ''
History of Dharmaśāstra
The ''History of Dharmaśāstra'', with a subtitle "''Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India''", is a monumental seven-volume work consisting of around 6,500 pages. It was authored by renowned Indologist Pandurang Vaman Kane. The ...
'' (1930–62), a five-volume treatise on law in
ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...
and
medieval India
Medieval India was a long period of post-classical history in the Indian subcontinent between the ancient and modern periods. It is usually regarded as running approximately from the break-up of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century to the star ...
.
He was
nominated
A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...
to the
Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
,
upper house
An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...
of the
Indian parliament
The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...
from 1953 to 1964.
Kane initially studied and taught
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, but later obtained
degrees in law and practiced before the
Bombay High Court
The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...
.
He taught Sanskrit at
Wilson College and
Elphinstone College
Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1856, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the edu ...
and law at
Government Law College.
Kane was a member of the
Bombay Asiatic Society.
The historian
Ram Sharan Sharma
Ram Sharan Sharma (26 November 1919 – 20 August 2011) was an Indian Marxist historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India. He taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was ...
says: "Pandurang Vaman Kane, a great Sanskritist wedded to social reform, continued the earlier tradition of scholarship. His monumental work entitled the "History of the Dharmasastra", published in five volumes in the twentieth century, is an encyclopedia of ancient social laws and customs. This enables us to study the social processes in
ancient India
Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...
."
Early life
Kane was born on 7 May 1880 at Pedem (or Parasurama), near
Chiplun
Chiplun ( Help:IPA/Marathi, ͡ʃipɭuːɳ is a city in Ratnagiri district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the financial and commercial hubs of Ratnagiri district, and the headquarters of Chiplun taluka. It is about 250 ...
,
Ratnagiri district
Ratnagiri district (Marathi pronunciation: �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The administrative headquarter of the district is located in the town of Ratnagiri. The district is 11.34% urban. The district ...
,
Bombay Presidency. His paternal family belonged to a
priestly caste
The priestly caste is a social group responsible for officiating over sacrifices and leading prayers or other religious functions, particularly in nomadic and tribal societies.
In some cases, as with the Brahmins of India and the Kohanim and Le ...
, however, his father, Vamanrao Kane, was a
pleader
A special pleader was a historical legal occupation. The practitioner, or "special pleader" in English law specialised in drafting "pleadings", in modern terminology statements of case.
History
Up to the 19th century, there were many rules, tech ...
and a
taluka
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
.
His father taught him
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, instructing him to
memorise ''
Amarakosa'', a Sanskrit
thesaurus
A thesaurus (: thesauri or thesauruses), sometimes called a synonym dictionary or dictionary of synonyms, is a reference work which arranges words by their meanings (or in simpler terms, a book where one can find different words with similar me ...
.
He attended school and passed his
matriculation examinations at
Dapoli
Dapoli is a Village and taluka in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, India. It lies south of the state capital of Mumbai. The town is also known as Camp Dapoli, as the British had set their camps here. Many high-ranking British officers' g ...
.
Kane attended
Wilson College, graduating with a
B. A. degree in 1901, and was awarded the
Bhau Daji Lad Prize in Sanskrit.
He continued studying Sanskrit at Wilson College, obtaining a
M. A. in
English and Sanksrit by 1903.
He briefly taught as a
school teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
at Government High School,
Ratnagiri
Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in southwestern Maharashtra, India. The district is part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for the Hapus or ...
and
Elphinstone High School
Elphinstone High School was an English-medium school established in 1824 in Bombay, India in honour of Mountstuart Elphinstone, the then Governor of Bombay (1819–1827). In 1836 the Elphinstone Institute was founded, which started the Elph ...
,
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 ...
.
In 1909, he was appointed professor of Sanskrit at
Elphinstone College
Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1856, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the edu ...
.
Career
Kane is best known for his ''History of Dharmaśāstra'', a five-volume treatise on law in
ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...
and
medieval India
Medieval India was a long period of post-classical history in the Indian subcontinent between the ancient and modern periods. It is usually regarded as running approximately from the break-up of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century to the star ...
.
''
Dharmaśāstra
''Dharmaśāstra'' () are Sanskrit Puranic Smriti texts on law and conduct, and refer to treatises (shastras, śāstras) on Dharma. Like Dharmasūtra which are based upon Vedas, these texts are also elaborate law commentaries based on vedas, D ...
'' is a group of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
texts on law and conduct. Kane's treatise is an
English digest of the ''Dharmaśāstra''.
The first volume of the ''History of Dharmaśāstra'' was completed by Kane and published by the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is a research institute involved in the conservation, preservation, and research of old manuscripts and rare books related to Orientalism, particularly Indology. It is located in Pune, Maharash ...
,
Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
in 1930.
The final volume, namely the fifth volume of the treatise, was published in two parts, with the second part being published in 1962.
The whole treatise encompasses 6,500 pages, and provides an authoritative and encyclopedic treatment of the religious and civil law of ancient and medieval India.
Kane wrote the book ''Vyavaharamayukha'' and was in the process of writing an introductory passage on the ''History of Dharmaśāstra'' for this book so that the reader would get an overall idea apart from the subject of the book. One thing led to another and this project snowballed into the major work that it is. All the same, he was categorical in saying that it is difficult to find an English equivalent of the word "Dharma." His output in the form of writings across the three languages of English,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
and Marathi spans nearly 15,000 pages.
‘''History of Poetics’'' was one of his other great books. Apart from Theology and Poetry, he wrote a great deal on other topics too, which included Astrology, Cultural and Geographical history of India-Maharashtra-Konkan- Vidarbha, Marathi language, its grammar, language & handwriting, economics of ''Kautilya'' (Chanakya), Mathematics, Dramatics, etc. There are in all 198 publications by his name. They include 39 texts, 115 articles, 44 books, introductions and reviews.
Recognition
Dr. Kane was rewarded as
Mahamahopadhyaya
Mahamahopadhyaya (Sanskrit: महामहोपाध्याय) is an honorific title given to prestigious scholars by the Government of India. Prior to 1947, the title was bestowed by the British Raj, and before them, by the kings of ancien ...
(Etymology: Maha+Maha+Upadhyay = The greatest among the great teachers), usually shortened to MM as a prefix in the writings that refer to him. He served as the
vice-chancellor
A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...
of the
University of Mumbai
University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges.
It was est ...
. His services were requisitioned and enlisted for establishing
Kurukshetra University
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (KUK) is a university established on 11January 1956 in Kurukshetra, in the Indian state of Haryana, from the capital, Delhi. It is a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities.
History
The univers ...
in
Indic studies
Hindu studies is the study of the traditions and practices of the Indian subcontinent (especially Hinduism), and considered as a subfield of Indology. Beginning with British philology in the colonial period, Hindu studies has been practiced larg ...
. He was awarded the
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its off ...
award in 1956 for ''History of Dharmaśāstra, vol. IV'' for his research under the Sanskrit translation category. He was also an honorary member of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
He was nominated to the
Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
as a member of Parliament for his distinguished record in the field of academics. The highest accolade bestowed upon him was the
Bharat Ratna
The Bharat Ratna (; ) is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distin ...
in 1963.
The
Asiatic Society of Mumbai sponsored a
stamp in his honour, which was released by the
Governor of Maharashtra
The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor; however, the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Minister ...
on 18 April 2022.
Indian law
Kane believed that the
Constitution of India
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...
made a complete break with the traditional ideas prevalent in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
by engendering a false notion among the people that they have rights but no obligations.
Given the encyclopaedic and authoritative nature of his work, it is often used in debates in Polity. One such issue that cropped up during
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...
government was whether ancient Indians ate beef and both the groups quoted extensively from Kane's work to support their viewpoint. This issue became important as
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
s traditionally
revere the cow as a mother and hence eating of beef is prohibited. Another such issue was whether the girls in the ancient times had the right to wear the yajnopavita (sacred thread), as the
upanayana
''Upanayana'' () is a Hindu educational sacrament, one of the traditional saṃskāras or rites of passage that marked the acceptance of a student by a preceptor, such as a ''guru'' or ''acharya'', and an individual's initiation into a school in ...
ceremony was restricted only to the men in the recent past.
Legacy
To commemorate him, the Asiatic Society of Mumbai has established the Mm. Dr. P.V. Kane Institute for Post Graduate studies and Research in 1974 to promote, encourage and facilitate research in oriental studies. Also, MM Dr. P.V. Kane Gold Medal is given once every three years to a scholar for outstanding contribution to the study of Vedic, Dharmashastra or Alankara Literature.
See also
*
Dharmasastra
*
Dharma
Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...
References
Other sources
* S.G. Moghe (editor), Professor Kane's contribution to Dharmasastra literature, 1997, New Delhi: D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd.
Autobiographical Epilogue in History of Dharmashastra Vol 5
External links
*
Rare letters and correspondences of P.V. Kane
Publication dates of volumesHonorary member of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
* Constitution making a complete break with traditional ideas of India
(Chapter 2.2) (German site, biography in English)
(At the bottom of the article) (German site, chronology in English)
– Padmakar Dadegaonkar
भारतरत्न, महामहोपाध्याय डॉ.पा.वा.काणे
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kane, Pandurang Vaman
Kane, PV
Kane, PV
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Sanskrit
Kane, PV
Marathi-language writers
Kane, PV
Kane, PV
Kane, PV
Kane, P.V.
Indian Sanskrit scholars
People from Ratnagiri district
Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha
20th-century Indian educators
20th-century Indian historians