Keshav Thackeray was born on 17 September 1885 in Panvel in a Chandraseniya

Kayastha Prabhu family. According to his autobiography Mazhi Jeevangatha, one of

his ancestors was a Killedar of the Dhodap fort during the Maratha rule.His great-
grandfather Krushnaji Madhav ("Appasaheb") resided in Pali, Raigad, while his
grandfather Ramchandra "Bhikoba" Dhodapkar settled in Panvel. Keshav's father
Sitaram adopted the surname "Panvelkar" as per the tradition, but while admitting
his son in the school, he gave him the surname "Thakre", which was apparently their
traditional family name before "Dhodapkar".An admirer of the India-born British
writer William Makepeace Thackeray, Keshav later anglicized the spelling of his
surname to "Thackeray".When Keshav was still a teenager, his father died in a
plague epidemic, in 1902. Keshav was educated at Panvel, Kalyan, Baramati and
Bombay (now Mumbai). Outside the Bombay Presidency, he studied at the Victoria High
School in Dewas (Central Provinces), and later, at the Calcutta University.He
finally settled in Bombay. Keshav Thackeray wrote in the Marathi language. He
started a fortnightly magazine named Prabodhan ("Enlighten"), which is the origin
of his pen name Prabodhankar.

Keshav Thackeray's own CKP caste ranked just next to the Brahmins in the caste
hierarchy, but he refused to accept this old social hierarchy. He is often
described as a social activist or social reformer for his rejection of caste
system.When the prominent Marathi historian VK Rajwade the upper-caste Kshatriya
status claimed by the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) caste in a 1916 essay,
Thackeray became one of his fiercest critics, and denounced his research as
casteist.He wrote a text outlining the identity of the CKP caste, and its
contributions to the Maratha empire. In this text, Gramanyachya Sadhyant Itihas,
Thackeray talked about the discrimination suffered by other communities at the
hands of the Brahmins during the Maratha rule.[13] He was not much concerned about
the ritual caste status, but sought to prove that many non-Brahmin communities
(specifically the CKPs) had played a major role in the history of the Maratha
empire. He wrote that the CKPs "provided the cement" for Shivaji's swaraj (self-
rule) "with their blood", and supported him even before the Kshatriyas of Rajput
origin joined him.[12] Thackeray also replied to him in the marathi book Kodandache
Tanatkar (1918). Thackeray was supported in his defence by another writer Keshav
Trimbak Gupte who replied to Rajwade in his sanskrit and marathi book Rajwadyanchi
Gagabhatti(1919) in which he produced verbatim the letters written by the
Shankaracharya in 1830 formally endorsing the CKPs Kshatriya status by referring to
them as Chandraseniya Kshatriyas and letters from Banares Brahmins (1779, 1801) and
Pune Brahmins ratified by Bajirao II himself in 1796 that gave them privilege over
the Vedas.

Anti Dowry Demonstrations

Prabodhankar with his followers would ridicule the social evil of Dowry by having a
fake marriage procession, wearing entirely black, and following a donkey with a
wedding head-band carrying the message, A person taking dowry is going for a
marriage. Some Brahmins sued him for his anti-dowry demonstations but the British
Judge supported him by asking: 'Why is the police harassing Prabodhankar when he is
fighting for a good cause?'

Keshav Thackeray's wife was Rama-bai Thackeray; she died around 1943. He had at
least 6 children : Bal Thackeray, Shrikant Thackeray (father of Raj Thackeray) and
Ramesh Thackeray; daughters - Pama Tipnis,Sarla Gadkari, Susheela Gupte, Sanjeevani
Karandikar. Prabodhankar Thackeray also had two brothers named Vinayakrao Thackeray
and Yeshwant Thackeray.

hackeray was born in Pune on 23 January 1926 to Ramabai and Keshav Sitaram
Thackeray (also known as 'Prabodhankar').He was the eldest of nine siblings.
Thackeray began his career as a cartoonist in the Free Press Journal in Mumbai. His
cartoons were also published in the Sunday edition of The Times of India. Mr
Thackeray's was given a large room, which he shared with the film page editor, Ajit
Merchant, and an office clerk.People moved in and around it all the time, but
Thackeray was never disturbed. And he did not talk much, he was both shy and
timid.Two of his works has been included in a British anthology of
cartoons.Thackarey found himself in an office full of South Indians, headed by the
fearless Sadanand. Sadanand was the founder editor of The Free Press Journal .

Mr Thackeray left the paper in rage, or at least as much rage as his then gentle
nature could command. An American newspaper had reproduced one of his cartoons and
sent him a cheque. The management had kept the cheque, claiming that the cartoon
was its property.The management was South Indian, and hence his first attack, when
he started Marmik, a sort of Marathi Punch, was against the South Indians. It was
mainly directed against the Malabari hawkers, who used to, and still do, crowd
Bombay's pavements and sell smuggled or fake goods. But the earnings he used to
get were not enough to run his house. So he worked for various advertising agencies
including Lintas and magazines. He deigned advertisements and drew sketches for
them. One day he told his father Keshav (popularly known as Prabodhankar) that he
did not earn much through these works and decided to start his own weekly dedicated
to cartoons. Pabodhnakar supported his idea and suggested name for the weekly as
'Marmik'. In those days there was only one cartoon weekly in the country,
'Shankar's Weekly' published from New Delhi.

After Thackeray's differences with the Free Press Journal, he and four or five
people, including politician George Fernandes, left the paper and started their own
daily News Day.The paper survived for one or two months. According to Stephen E.
Atkins Thackeray was removed "after a political dispute over Thackeray's attacks on
southern Indian immigration into Bombay". Notable cartoonist R. K. Laxman joined
The Free Press Journal as a twenty-year-old. Thackeray met Mr. Laxman in 1946, when
he joined The Free Press Journal, where Mr. Laxman was working. In their twenties
and just starting out as political cartoonists, they hit it off instantly. �They
visited cafes, shared many days of people-watching and laughing together". Three
years into the job, he was asked by his proprietor not to make fun at communists,
Laxman left and joined The Times of India.

The first time Thackaray resigned in 1952 was entirely due to his ego. He himself
narrated so in an interview -There was this unpleasant person Mitra. You find such
people everywhere. He made me sit next to the telephone operator. The phones would
ring and there used be constant noise� �hold on, yes please, arrey�. How was I
supposed to finish my work in that ruckus? I need silence even while reading a
newspaper. How could I work in such an environment? That why I resigned. Anyway
Sadanand himself went to Thackeray's house and requested him to rejoin and
Thackeray acquiesced in the name of affection for Sadanand. Alo interesting is the
fact that he and RK Laxman worked together in FPJ for two years, RKL left in 1949
to join Times of India. RK Laxman mentions in passing � He was a competent and
efficient cartoonist, but was preoccupied with the idea of saving Maharashtra, its
pristine glory , people, language and culture. Gradually he relegated the business
of cartooning to the background and became an active politician heading a party of
his own as its supremo.

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