In 1942, celebrating the birth anniversary of a stalwart intellectual, Bhim Rao Ambedkar had said, “Ranade had a natural goodwill. He had tremendous intellectual ability. He was not only a lawyer and a judge of the High Court, but also an economist of the highest order. He was also an educationist of the highest order and a scholar of theology of the same level.” Do you know what Dr Ambedkar was talking about? It was talking about none other than Mahadevgovind Ranade, who was called 'Socrates of Maharashtra'.

Mahadev Govind Ranade was born on January 18, 1842 in Niphad, a small town in Maharashtra. His education started at the age of fourteen at Elphinstone College, Mumbai.

Mahadev Govind Ranade, the great personality of India, was a famous scholar, social reformer, jurist and Indian nationalist. Due to these characteristics, he was called 'Socrates of Maharashtra'. Ranade was greatly influenced by the then social reform organizations such as Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj etc. He worked to spread the ideology of Brahmo Samaj movement outside Bengal.

Strongly opposing the immediate social evils and superstitions, he actively participated in the works of social reform. Mahadev Govind Ranade strongly opposed social evils such as child marriage, shaving of widows, excessive expenditure in marriages and ceremonies and caste discrimination for foreign travel. Along with this, he also emphasized on widow remarriage and women's education. He contributed to the formation of many public organizations.

These included important organizations like Ahmednagar Education Committee, Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and Prarthana Samaj. Ranade was also one of the founders of the 'Deccan Educational Society'. He also edited the Anglo-Marathi newspaper 'Induprakash'. Along with this, he wrote works like widow remarriage, revenue law, biography of Raja Rammohan Roy, flourishing of Marathas, religious and social reforms etc. As a true nationalist, Mahadev Govind Ranade not only supported the establishment of the 'Indian National Congress', but also participated in the first Mumbai session of the Congress in 1885 AD.

Mahadev Govind Ranade was a strong supporter of Swadeshi. He held many prestigious positions during his lifetime, including a member of the Bombay Legislative Council, a member of the Finance Committee of the Central Government and a judge of the Bombay High Court.

Apart from being a well-known personality, Ranade had a calm and impressive personality. He wanted to bring reforms in India by making an agreement with Britain. He said that in a country like India, there should be four important pillars of nation building. For this empowerment of farmers and women is necessary. Everyone should get education and revolutionary steps should be taken for social reform. On January 16, 1901, he said goodbye to this world forever.