Few people realize that three of modern India’s most influential figures once shared the same classroom podium—not as politicians or reformers, but as mathematics teachers.
Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and Dhondo Keshav Karve (later known as Maharishi Karve) all taught mathematics at Fergusson College in Pune. Tilak, the fiery nationalist, once declared that after India won independence he would simply return to teaching math. Gokhale, the moderate statesman and mentor to Mahatma Gandhi, also stood at the blackboard explaining equations. And Karve, the quiet social reformer, did the same.
Their paths crossed in unexpected ways. Ideological differences between Tilak and Gokhale grew so sharp in the 1890s that Tilak resigned from the faculty. To fill the gap, Gokhale recruited his own college batchmate, Karve, who was then teaching in Mumbai. That single decision brought Karve to Pune.
Once settled there, Karve went on to found the Hingne Stree Shikshan Sanstha and later India’s first women’s university, SNDT. A disagreement between two math professors thus helped launch one of the most important movements for women’s education in the country.
The next time you walk past Fergusson College, remember: the equations once solved inside its walls helped write the larger equations of India’s freedom and social progress. The full story of these three teachers is even richer—and well worth discovering.
co-written with Grok