Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade
eminent historian, linguist, scholar, writer, commentator and orator from Maharashtra (1863-1926)
Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade (24 July 1863 – 31 December 1926) was an Indian historian, known for his work on the history of the Maratha Empire. He pioneered research into the Empire by visiting hundreds of villages across India and gathering thousands of historical documents, especially family records. He also founded the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, a research institute, at Pune in 1910.
His students include historians like Datto Vaman Potdar, Vasudeo Sitaram Bendrey and G. H. Khare.
The historian, Ram Sharan Sharma says: "With his unadulterated passion for research, V.K. Rajwade went from village to village in Maharashtra in search of Sanskrit manuscripts and sources of Maratha history; which were published in twenty-two volumes."
The Indian History Congress created the Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade Award for lifelong service and contribution to Indian history.
Early life
Rajwade was born on 24 July 1863 at Varsai, Raigad district, Bombay Presidency, at a Chitpavan Brahmin family. Rajwade's grandfather was the Killedar of fort Lohagad in the province of Pune. His father died while he was a child and from then he was brought up by his uncle at Vadgaon near Pune. He matriculated in January 1882 and graduated in 1890 from Deccan College, Pune. During his degree course he came into close contact with the eminent historian Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, who was then a professor at the college.
“Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade” enters the record as eminent historian, linguist, scholar, writer, commentator and orator from Maharashtra (1863-1926). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Vishwanath, Kashinath and Rajwade can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Vishwanath, Kashinath and Rajwade provides the most credible route into that argument.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q55781. VIAF identifies the subject as 15829577. The Library of Congress control number is n82039798. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1863, 1926, 1910 and 1882.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade primary sources, Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade archive and Vishwanath research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.