Raghunath Dhondo Karve (14 January 1882 – 14 October 1953) was a professor of mathematics and a social reformer from Maharashtra, India. He was a pioneer in initiating

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...

and birth control for masses in

Mumbai 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 secon ...

in 1921. Born in a

Chitpavan The Chitpavan Brahmin or Konkanastha 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 communit ...

Brahmin family, Raghunath was the eldest son of

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest 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 distinctio ...

Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve.'' ''His mother Radhabai died during childbirth in 1891, when he was nine. He was born in Murud. He studied at New English School, Pune. He stood first in a

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...

examination conducted in 1899. He went to

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 fi ...

, Pune where he obtained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in 1904. Karve started his professional career as a professor of mathematics at Wilson College in Mumbai. However, when he started publicly expressing his views about family planning,

population control Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...

, and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as " women's rights" to denote female humans rega ...

right to experience sexual/sensual pleasure as much as

men A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chro ...

, the conservative

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

administrators of the college asked him to

resign Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

from the professorship. He then devoted himself to the above causes. On his own initiative, Karve started the very first birth control clinic in India in 1921, the same year when the first birth control clinic opened in London.

Books authored

* ‘Santatiniyaman Aachar ani Vichar’ (Family planning: Thoughts and Action) in 1923 * ‘Guptrogapasun Bachav’ & ‘Aadhunik Kaamashastra’ * In 1927 he published ‘Samajswasthya’; a monthly on social health, and continued it till death (14 October 1953). Through this monthly, he tried to educated people about sex education. He hardly could meet his own needs, yet he never ceased from continuing the monthly * ‘Adhunik Kamashastra’ (1934) * ‘Adhunik Aharshastra’ (1938) * ‘Vaishya Vyavasay’ (1940), which had a scientific approach. * Some of his other light themed books were ‘Parischya Ghari’ (1946) and ’13 Goshti’ (1940)

Samaj Swasthya

Karve published a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

magazine Samaj Swasthya (समाजस्वास्थ्य) starting from July 1927 until 1953. In it, he continually discussed issues of society's well-being through population control through use of contraceptives so as prevent

unwanted pregnancies Unintended pregnancies are pregnancy, pregnancies that are mistimed, unplanned or unwanted at the time of Fertilisation, conception. Vaginal sex, Sexual activity without the use of effective birth control, contraception through choice or coercion ...

and induced

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

s. He promoted responsible parenting by men,

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

, and women's empowerment and right to experience sexual/sensual pleasure. As an illustration of some of Karve's radical thoughts, he expressed the thought that so long as childbirth and

venereal diseases Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral sex ...

are prevented, women could engage in promiscuity—even perhaps with male prostitutes—for the sake of variety in sexual pleasure, if they so desire, without, in fact, harming their husbands. All the issues of this magazine are now available a
www.radhonkarve.com

Wife's support

Karve's wife, Malati, supported his cause though it brought them social

ostracism Ostracism ( el, ὀστρακισμός, ''ostrakismos'') was an Athenian democracy, Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be exile, expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed ...

besides his loss of his professorial career. She shared the couple's financial responsibility, and the two chose to remain

childless ''Childless'' is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Charlie Levi and starring Barbara Hershey, Joe Mantegna, James Naughton and Diane Venora. The sudden passing of a teenage girl unsettles the four adults in her life. Jarred by ...

. Apart from his wife, he had support of Dr. Ambedkar, "Wrangler Paranjape", Riyastkar Sardesai, and Mama Varekar. He had to swim against the current all his life. He got hurt, but he never gave up.

Critic's analysis

Literary critic

M V Dhond Madhukar Vasudev Dhond (M. V. Dhond, In Devanagari: मधुकर वासुदेव धोंड, म. वा. धोंड) (3 October 1914 – 5 December 2007) was a literary and art critic from Maharashtra, India. He wrote in Marathi on ...

has written three essays on Karve. In the third essay, he analyses why Karve was not as successful in his mission as much as

Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth contr ...

and

Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification ...

, his counterparts in United States and UK, respectively. Karve's mission was not restricted to that of Sanger and Stopes namely happy family life,

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchi ...

of women, control of population. Karve wanted women to have as much sexual freedom and sensual pleasure as men. Dhond claims contemporary society's objectives were restricted to those of Sanger and Stopes and hence not only Karve's mission as a whole suffered, he himself was persecuted by society at large. There were other reasons too: Karve's unattractive personality, poor finances, and lack of networking skills. It's unfortunate Karve was not alive when three major events, that make us understand woman sexuality better, took place-
1. Publication of the

Kinsey report The Kinsey Reports are two scholarly books on human sexual behavior, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'' (1948) and ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'' (1953), written by Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, Clyde Martin, and (for ''Sexual Beh ...

in 1953
2. Publication of

Masters and Johnson The Masters and Johnson research team, composed of William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual disorders and dysfunctions from 1957 until the ...

's book in 1966 and
3. Publication of

The Hite Report Shere Hite (; November 2, 1942 – September 9, 2020) was an American-born German sex educator and feminist. Her sexological work focused primarily on female sexuality. Hite built upon biological studies of sex by Masters and Johnson and by ...

in 1976.
These documents have proven how right Karve was with his thoughts on woman's sexuality.

References

External links