Setumadhavarao Pagadi


Setumadhavarao Pagdi or Sethu Madhav Rao Pagdi was an able civil servant, a polyglot, an accomplished historian and a distinguished man of letters specialised in modern Maratha history, especially the history of Shivaji. He also worked as the secretary of Government of Maharashtra. As a secretary he did his job fairly well. Setu Madhavrao was well versed in Marathi, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and Persian, apart from Kannada, which was his mother tongue. As a linguist he discovered the sound system and the Grammar of tribal dialect called Gaudi. He was one who served the cause of Marathi against all odds in pre and post - Independent Hyderabad state. Following in the footsteps of the noted Bengali historian Jadunath Sarkar, Setu Madhavrao wrote Shivaji's biography in Marathi and English and the theory enkindled the spirit of nationalism in his reader's.
The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1992.

Early life

Madhavrao was born on 27 August 1910 in Nilanga, Hyderabad State into a Deshastha Madhva Brahmin family of landlords. He was educated in Gulbarga, Osmanabad, and Pune. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Banaras Hindu University in 1930 and Master of Arts degree from Allahabad University three years later.
He was well-versed in Marathi, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and Persian, apart from Kannada, which was his mother tongue.

Literary works

In English