Vithal Krishnaji Khedkar

Vithal Krishnaji Khedkar was an Indian social reformer, one of the founders of the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay, and original 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 Allahbad in 1959.^[3]

Hailing from Ratnagiri District, and a member of the Gowli 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. M. S. A. Rao (1972). Tradition, rationality, and change: essays in sociology of economic development and social change. Popular Prakashan. p. 77. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
2. Robert Eric Frykenberg (1984). Land tenure and peasant in South Asia. Manohar. p. 198. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
3. G.S. Ghurye (2008). Caste and race in India. Popular Prakashan. pp. 451–. ISBN 978-81-7154-205-5. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
4. Govind Sadashiv Ghurye (1969). Caste and race in India. Popular Prakashan. p. 450. Retrieved 8 September 2011. - 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. David Goodman Mandelbaum (1970). Society in India: Change and continuity. University of California Press. pp. 442–. ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
6. Christophe Jaffrelot (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India. Columbia University Press. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-0-231-12786-8. Retrieved 8 September 2011.