Vithal Krishnaji Khedkar was an Indian social reformer, one of the founders of the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay, and the author of a book later published as The Divine Heritage of the Yadavas, which was one of the earliest attempts to create a historical narrative for the Yadav caste of cowherds.[1] His work made the case for a Yadav-Ahir narrative of descent from the god Krishna through royal dynasties.[2] Khedkar's book was revised in 1924 by his son, the surgeon Raghunath Vithal Khedkar, and published in Allahabad in 1959.[3]

Hailing from Ratnagiri District, and a member of the Gavli Maharashtrian caste,[4] Khedkar was born to a family of military tradition,[1] and became a schoolteacher, later becoming a private secretary to the Maharaja of Bhavnagar.[5][6] He married the daughter of a sardar, and she became the chief medical officer at Bhavnagar.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rao, M. S. A. (1972). Tradition, rationality, and change: essays in sociology of economic development and social change. Popular Prakashan. p. 77.
  2. ↑ Frykenberg, Robert Eric (1984). Land tenure and peasant in South Asia. Manohar. p. 198.
  3. ↑ Ghurye, G. S. (2008). Caste and race in India. Popular Prakashan. p. 451. ISBN 978-81-7154-205-5.
  4. ↑ Ghurye, G. S. (1969). Caste and race in India. Popular Prakashan. p. 450. The All-India Yadav Mahasabha owes its origin to the nineteenth century work of one VK Khedkar, a member of the Maharashtrian caste, known as Gowli, of Ratnagiri district
  5. ↑ Mandlbaum, David Goodman (1970). Society in India: Change and continuity. University of California Press. p. 442. ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1.
  6. ↑ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India. Columbia University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-231-12786-8.
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