Sir Raghunath Purushottam Paranjpye (16 February 1876 – 6 May 1966) also known as Wrangler Paranjpye was an

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 ...

n mathematician and diplomat who served as the 1st High Commissioner of India to Australia from 1945 to 1947. He became the first Indian to achieve the coveted title of

Senior Wrangler The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain". Specifically, it is the person who achiev ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Later in life he also served as the Vice Chancellor of many Indian universities.

Early life and education

Raghunath Paranjpye was born in Murdi near

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 ...

on the coastal

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 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

to a

Chitpavan Brahmin The Chitpavan Brahmin or the Kokanastha Brahmin is a Hindu Maharashtrian Brahmin community inhabiting Konkan, the coastal region of the state of Maharashtra. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the commun ...

family. He was educated at Maratha high school,

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 ...

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 Vaman Shriram Apte, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vishnushashtri Chiplunkar, Mah ...

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 ...

and

Bombay University 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 ...

before entering

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

in 1896. He graduated B.A. as senior Wrangler in 1899. Paranjpye was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of St John's College in November 1901 and stayed as such until 1907, but returned to India to become a professor of mathematics at Fergusson College in 1902. One of the earliest Indian documentary film makers, H. S. Bhatavdekar, made silent documentary films, ''Return of Wrangler Paranjpye'' (1902) and ''Delhi Durbar of Lord Curzon'' (1903), featuring R. P.

Career

In 1907, R. P. became the first librarian of the

Indian Mathematical Society The Indian Mathematical Society (IMS) is the oldest organization in India devoted to the promotion of study and research in mathematics. The Society was founded in April 1907 by V. Ramaswamy Aiyer with its headquarters at Pune. The Society start ...

at Fergusson College. He became the college's principal, and stayed in that position for two decades, until 1926. Subsequently, he consecutively became the Vice-Chancellor of

and

University of Lucknow University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...

In 1921, the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Sir Raghunath was elected to the

Bombay Legislative Council Bombay Legislative Council was the legislature of the Bombay Province and later the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Bombay Province in British India and the Indian state of Bombay. History The Indian Councils Act 1861 set up the B ...

in 1912 representing the University of Bombay constituency. He was again elected to the enlarged Council as per the

Government of India Act 1919 The Government of India Act 1919 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 101) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The act embodied the reforms recommended in the report ...

. As part of

Diarchy in Bombay Presidency Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally spelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate. is a form of government charact ...

, Paranjpye was appointed as the first Minister for Education and he served in the position till 1923. He was unable to get elected in the 1923 elections losing to M. R. Jayakar of the

Swaraj Party The Swaraj Party, established as the Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party, was a political party formed in India on 1 January 1923 after the Gaya annual conference in December 1922. Chauri Chaura The Swaraj Party was formed on 1 January 1923 by Indi ...

. Paranjpye received a knighthood from the colonial government in 1942. In the three years (1944–1947) preceding India's independence from the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, the British government appointed him India's High Commissioner to Australia.Sai Paranjpye at ASHA
In the days of the British Raj, there was some criticism that R. P. had often appeared on the side of British authorities at a time of nationalist ferment in India. He was the founder of the

Indian Rationalist Association The Indian Rationalist Association is a voluntary organisation in India whose 100,000 members Bedi, Rahul." ''The Irish Times.'' 2009-07-13. Retrieved 15 August 2009 promote scientific skepticism and critique supernatural claims. It publishes b ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

(then

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

) in 1949, and remained its President for many years. His autobiography, ''84 Not Out'', appeared in 1961.

Acharya Atre Pralhad Keshav Atre () (13 August 1898 – 13 June 1969), popularly known as Āchārya Atre, was a prominent Marathi writer, poet, educationist, founder–editor of ''Maratha'' (a Marathi language newspaper), and above all a noted orator. Biogr ...

has devoted one full chapter in his autobiography to Wrangler Paranjpye and has written about his fame all over the country and how because of him students from outside Maharashtra came to study at Ferguson College.

Family

His younger brother, Hari Purushottam Paranjpye was a well known agriculturist of his time. In 1991, the Government of India awarded R. P.'s daughter

Shakuntala Paranjpye Shakuntala Paranjpye (17 January 1906 – 3 May 2000) was an Indian writer, actress and a prominent social worker. She was a member of Maharashtra Legislative Council during 1958–64, and served as nominated member of Rajya Sabha during 1 ...

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

title in recognition of her work in the field of family planning. She was also a nominated member of 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 ...

in the 1960s.NOMINATED MEMBERS OF RAJYA SABHA
In 2006, the Government of India awarded R. P.'s granddaughter

Sai Paranjpye Sai Paranjpye (born 19 March 1938) is an Indian movie director and screenwriter. She is the director of the award-winning movies '' Sparsh'', '' Katha'', '' Chasme Buddoor'' and '' Disha''. She has written and directed many Marathi plays such as ...

title in recognition of her artistic talents. She is a film director and a scriptwriter.SAI PARANJPYE, INDIAN FILMMAKER
library, worldbank.

Works

* ''Dhondo Keshav Karve: A Sketch'', Poona, Arya Bhushan Press, 1915. * ''Gopal Krishna Gokhale'', The Aryabhushan Press, 1918. * ''The Crux of the Indian Problem''. Watts, 1931. * ''The National Liberal Federation, Presidential address''. Allahabad, 1939. Vithal Hari Barve, 1939. * ''84 Not Out'', National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1961. * ''Rationalism In Practice: The Kamala Lectures'', Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2006. .

References

* R.P. Paranjpye, ''84 Not Out'', National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1961. Autobiography. * ''Wrangler Raghunath Purushottam Paranjpye'' by Dr Anant Deshmukh, 2011. Biography. * John Kenneth Galbraith, ''Ambassador's Journal Publisher'', Houghton Mifflin Company (1969) Language: English

External links

* *
First Indian Wrangler : Raghunath Purushottam Paranjape from Dapoli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paranjpe, R.P. 1876 births 1966 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge High commissioners of India to Australia 19th-century Indian mathematicians Senior Wranglers Scientists from Maharashtra University of Mumbai alumni Academic staff of the University of Mumbai Academic staff of the University of Lucknow Indian Knights Bachelor Indian atheists Presidents of the Indian Mathematical Society 20th-century Indian mathematicians Members of the Bombay Legislative Council