Background
Patwardhan was born in 1894 in Baroda.He studied in The M.C Heigh School in Baroda.
Patwardhan was born in 1894 in Baroda.He studied in The M.C Heigh School in Baroda.
He hailed from Maharashtra, India. He obtained his bachelor"s and master"s degrees in 1916 and 1918, respectively, by specializing in the studies of Pharsi (Persian) and English literature. During 1918-1924, he taught Pharsi at Fergusson College in Pune, and after serving as a high school teacher for the next four years, he joined Rajaram College in Kolhapur to teach Pharsi there for the next eleven years (until his untimely death at age 45 in 1939).
In 1926, he published a Pharsi-Marathi dictionary.
During his years at Rajaram College, Patwardhan wrote in Marathi a thesis titled Chhandorachana (छंदोरचना) and received for it a Doctor of Literature Degree from Mumbai University in 1939, a few months before his death.
He was the first person in India to receive a doctorate in the field of Marathi literature. Patwardhan presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (मराठी साहित्य सम्मेलन) in Jalgaon in 1936.
Patwardhan held the idea that Marathi writers must maintain linguistic “purity” in Marathi writing.
He wrote a book titled BhashaShuddhi-Wiwek (भाषाशुद्धि-विवेक) on that topic. He listed in it 1,200 words which were prevalent to different degrees in contemporary Marathi literature and which, he thought, ought not to be used any more in Marathi literature. (In the above context, his inclusion in his poetry of some unusual words or word combinations like हृद्य मजा, खुर्चीसन्मुख, ज्वानीच्या अरुणोदयीं, and दुरत्यय वाग्यतता stands out, as also his choice of the pen name Madhav Julian with a “foreign” flavor He might, however, have assumed the unusual pen name for the very sake of its unusualness).