N. G. Chandavarkar Biography 
Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar, shortly known as N. G. Chandavarkar was one of the leading Hindu reformers of west India. He was also a politician and member of Indian national congress before Indian independence. He was one of its earliest members when this party was formed in 1885. He was born in Honavar of the Bombay Presidency on December 2, 1855 and died on May 14, 1923. His maternal uncle, Shamrao Vithal Kaikini was a social reformer from the Saraswat community. Chandavarkar was knighted in the 1910 New Year Honours List.
N. G. Chandavarkar was born in Honavar in the Bombay Presidency on December 2, 1855. He completed bachelor of law degree in the year 1881. Before that, he has served as a Dakshina Fellow in Elphinstone College for some time. Just before the formation of INC in 1885, he went to England as a member of the three-man delegation to educate public opinion about India right before general elections of England. His visit to England was one of the big incidents of his political career. Exactly on the same day when Indian National Congress was founded in Bombay in 1885 on December 28, he returned back from England.
He was elected as the president of the annual session of the Indian National Congress in 1900. In 1901, he was promoted to the high bench at the Bombay High Court and hence took a temporary break from politics. He was active in judicial system and various social groups for next 12 years till 1913. He took the leadership of Prarthana Samaj in 1901, following the death of Mahadev Govind Ranade. He held the responsibility of Indian National Social Conference founded by Ranade, for about 2 decades. He returned to politics in 1914. He headed All-India Moderates Conference in 1918 and presided over the public meeting held in Mumbai to protest against the report of the Hunter Committee on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1920. He took a prominent part in the affairs of the Bombay University and was later appointed as Vice-Chancellor. He was the President Prarthana Samaj, for 23 years, from 1901 to the last day of his life.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 06, 2014
