Career
He is considered to be the first in real sense to undertake an immense research of Maratha history by visiting hundreds of villages and historical places all over India and gathering thousands of historical papers. He was also a commentator on various aspects of world history. His students include historians like Datto Vaman Potdar, Vasudeo Sitaram Bendrey and G. H. Khare.
The historian, Ram Sharan Sharma says: "With his unadulterated passion for research, V.K.Rajwade went from village to village in Maharashtra in search of Sanskrit manuscripts and sources of Maratha history.
Which were published in twenty-two volumes."
Rajwade should not be confused with "Ahitagni" Shankar Ramchandra Rajwade, the Vedic scholar. The Indian History Congress has constituted the Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade Award for lifelong service and contribution to Indian history.
Rajwade’s grandfather was the Killedar of fort Lohagad in the province of Pune. He was born in Varsai village, in Raigad district, Maharashtra.
He matriculated in January 1882 and graduated in 1890 from Deccan College, Pune.
During his degree course he came into close contact with Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, who was then a professor at the college. He was also impressed with the works of Vishnushastri Krushnashastri Chiplunkar, Parshuram Tatya Godbole and Kavyeitihas Sangrahakar Sane. Thereafter he chose to dedicate his life to history and research.
In 1895 he started a Marathi magazine called Bhashantar (meaning ‘translation’) through which he brought works of Western historians and scholars such as Plato, Aristotle, and Edward Gibbon, and also Indian scholars like Shankaracharya in Marathi.
Simultaneously, by writing articles and delivering speeches he also started educating Marathi people on several subjects like history of Marathas, history of world, history of Marathi literature, grammar of Marathi and Sanskrit languages. Both the institutions have been contributing in the field of history and culture of India till the date.