Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane was born on May 7, 1880 was a famous Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. He was born in a conservative Brahmin family. He hails from the Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra.
Dr. Kane is famous for his magnum opus in English, History of Dharmasastra subtitled Ancient and Mediaeval Religions and Civil Law in India. This work researched the evolution of code of conduct in ancient and mediaeval India by looking into several texts and manuscripts compiled over the centuries. It was published in 5 volumes—the first volume was published in 1930 and the last in 1962. It runs to a total of more than 6,500 pages.
The richness in the work is attributed to his in-depth knowledge of Sanskrit. His success is believed to be an outcome of his objective study of the texts instead of defying them unlike other Indian Indologists.
His output in the form of writings across the three languages of English, Sanskrit and Marathi span nearly 15,000 page.
He served as the Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University. His services were requis-tioned and enlisted for establishing Kurukshetra University in Indic studies. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 1956 for History of Dharmasastra Volume IV for his research under the Sanskrit translation category. He was also an honorary member of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha as a member of Parliament for his distinguished record in the field of academics.
Given the encyclopaedic and authoritative nature of his work, it is often used in debates in polity. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1963 for his valuable services towards Indian society. He left for his heavenly abode on April 18, 1972.
To commemorate him, Asiatic Society of Bombay has established Dr. P.V. Kane Institute for Post Graduate Studies and Research in 1974 to promote, encourage and facilitate research in oriental studies. Also, Dr. P.V. Kane Gold Medal is given once every three years to a scholar for outstanding contribution to the study of Vedic, Dharmashastra or Alankara Literature.
