Shakuntala Karandikar

Shakuntala Bhupendra Karandikar (née Shakuntala Chandrashekhar Agashe;^[a] 20 July 1931 – 1 June 2018) was an Indian biographer and philanthropist, best remembered for writing Vishwasta (1992), a biography of her father in Marathi, and for her advocacy and philanthropy towards women's causes in Dahanu.

Shakuntala Karandikar
President and Founder of the Wednesday Women's Circle
President of the Rotary Inner Wheel Club of Dahanu
Personal details
Born	(1931-07-20)20 July 1931 Pune, Poona Agency, Bombay Presidency, British Raj
Died	1 June 2018(2018-06-01) (aged 86) Dahanu, Maharashtra, India
Parent	Chandrashekhar Agashe (father)
Occupation	Biographer philanthropist
Known for	Vishwasta (1992)

Biography

Early life and family: 1931–1953

Karandikar was born in Pune, Bombay Presidency on 31 July 1931, into an aristocratic and entrepreneurial Chitpavan brahmin family of industrialist Chandrashekhar Agashe and wife Indirabai Agashe (née Dwarka Gokhale).^[1] Her father was a member of the aristocratic Agashe gharana of the village of Mangdari in the Bhor State,^[3] while her mother was from the aristocratic Gokhale gharana of Dharwad.^[4]

She was the second eldest daughter, as well as the second eldest of nine siblings who survived to adulthood.^[5] She had two younger brothers, Panditrao Agashe and Dnyaneshwar Agashe.^[6] Through her brother Dnyaneshwar, she was a paternal aunt to Mandar, Ashutosh, and Sheetal Agashe.^[7] Some of Karandikar's other prominent relations include Bapu Gokhale, a Third Anglo-Maratha War general under Peshwa Baji Rao II of the Maratha Empire,^[4] musician Ashutosh Phatak,^[8] historian Dinkar G. Kelkar, and scientist P. K. Kelkar.^[9]

Marriage, writings, and philanthropy: 1953–2018

Karandikar initially studied painting. After matriculating, she married Bhupendra "Rajabhau" Karandikar, of the Karandikar gharana of Dahanu in 1953. They would go on to have three children, a daughter and two sons. She would aid him in his forestry and salt pan businesses.^[10] While in Dahanu, she was a prominent member of society. She advocated and supported various women's organisations and charities in support of various women's causes. She would go on to serve as president of the Rotary Inner Wheel Club and was the founding president of the Wednesday Women's Circle of Dahanu, frequently organizing fundraising activities for the clubs. She was also associated with various education institutions in Dahanu.^[11]

In June 1992, Karandikar and her siblings considered commissioning a biography on their father Chandrashekhar Agashe and his company the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate. Karandikar would go on to pen the biography herself based on the collated writings of her maternal uncle Mukundrao Gokhale, and those of Dattaji Kulkarni, and the biography previously written by Narubhau Limaye.^[12] The book was published on Ashadha Ekadashi as per the Indian national calendar, or on 10 July 1992 as per the Gregorian calendar, by Shri Prakashan in Shaniwar Peth, Pune.^[13] In April 2002, she contributed an essay for her brother Dnyaneshwar's festschrift published on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.^[14]

Death and legacy: 2018

Karandikar died on 1 June 2018 in Dahanu after a short illness.^[11] In 2022, the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate commissioned Nandan Phadnis to translate her biography from Marathi to English, which was published by the Syndicate in February of that year.^[15] In April that same year, her essay for her brother's festschrift would also be subsequently translated into English by Phadnis.^[16] By August that same year, her authored biography was subsequently assigned as a research guide for the South Asian studies department at the University of British Columbia.^[17]

Published works

Books

• Karandikar, Shakuntala (10 July 1992). विश्वस्त [Viśvasta] (in Marathi) (1st ed.). Pune: Śrī Prakāśana. ISBN 9781532345012. LCCN 2017322865. OCLC 992168228. Retrieved 22 May 2025 – via University of Oxford.
  • Karandikar, Shakuntala (14 February 2022). Agashe, Aditya (ed.). Vishwasta – The Trustee: The Life of Industrialist Chandrashekhar Agashe. Translated by Phadnis, Nandan (2nd ed.). Pune: The Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd. ISBN 9780578355863. LCCN 2021276641. OCLC 1310118266 – via Google Books.

Essays

• Karandikar, Shakuntala (17 April 2002). "शिरीन... माझा भाऊ..." [Shirin... My brother...]. In Barve, Ramesh; Vartak, Taraprakash; Belvalkar, Sharchandra (eds.). पुत्र विश्वस्ताचा : गौरव ग्रंथ : ज्ञानेश्वर आगाशे षष्ट्यब्दीपूर्ती निमित्त [Putra Viśvastācā : A Festschrift : In honour of Dnyaneshwar Agashe's 60th Birth Anniversary] (Festschrift) (in Marathi) (1st ed.). Pune: Jñāneśvara Āgāśe Gaurava Samitī. pp. 86–88. ISBN 978-1-5323-4594-4. LCCN 2017322864. OCLC 992168227. Retrieved 22 May 2025 – via University of Oxford.
  • Karandikar, Shakuntala (17 April 2022). "Shirin... My Brother". In Belvalkar, Sharatchandra; Vartak, Taraprakash; Barve, Ramesh (eds.). Putra Vishwastacha: A Festschrift to Dnyaneshwar Agashe. Translated by Phadnis, Nandan. Compiled by Agashe, Aditya (2nd ed.). Pune, Maharashtra: The Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd. pp. 98–101. ISBN 9780578292250. LCCN 2021276707. OCLC 1325123469 – via Google Books.

Notes

1. IAST: Śakuntalā Bhūpendra Karandīkara née IAST: Śakuntalā Candraśekhara Āgāśe. Karandikar bore her father's name (Chandrashekhar) as a middle name before marriage as per the patronymic Marathi naming conventions,^[1] but she is widely remembered by her married name, where her husband's name (Bhupendra) was her middle name.^[2]