MOGHE was our original family name. In 1425, some members of the Moghe family went to various sub-divisions of the Ratnagiri District and collected Authority papers before settling in Konkan permanantly. Later, some families leisurely moved and settled in Khanu – these families then became popular as the Joshi family. The Joshi family’s main occupation was agriculture and duties as a family priest. They had well-settled themselves in the capacity of 100-125 acres of land.
Bhaskar Chintamani Joshi, my great great grand-father managed agriculture and also duties as a family priest. His son Mahadeo Bhaskar died at an early age of 32-33 somewhere around 1880. At the time of his death, his only son Keshav Mahadeo was only 2 years old. His wife, my great grand-mother took a very bold decision, which was not only daring but unique and far-sighted (given the social position of women in society nearly 125 years ago). She thought that if her son Keshav stayed in the village of Khanu, he would not get good quality education and might have to spend his entire life around tilling the land and taking care of the cattle. Besides, she herself would have to lead a treacherous life of a widow in the old joint-family system. Hence she made up her mind and left the village of Khanu in search of a brigher future for her kid to Ratnagiri. She settled in Ratnagiri permenantly.
My great grand-mother had no support of her own relatives in Ratnagiri. But destiny always plays an unpredictable role. In Ratnagiri, my great grand-mother received strong support from late Shri Hari Sakharam Joshi and Vishu Sakharam Joshi (grand-father of Sadguru Shri Digambardas Maharaj). They realized how self-respecting she was and therefore, made arrangements so she could start a livelihood on her own by providing meals to the needy Brahmin officers. Keshav Mahadeo was very hard-working himself and worked hard to fulfill the desires of his mother. He completed his education upto Grade10 (S.S.C) and joined the Collector’s office as a Clerk.
Around the year 1915-16, he was promoted to be a Head-clerk. These were the World-War I days. During such a period of commotion Keshavrao worked hard and withstanding the tests of his senior officers, he was promoted to the post of Magistrate at Rajapur in 1924. That day, Keshavrao gave justice to all the hard work his mother had to go through. Oh! How blessed must the mother feel to see such progress of her son after so many pains and sacrifices she had to make.
Keshavrao was a simpleton and humble. He was honest and upright in nature. Therefore, there was no change in his attitude even after taking the position of a Magistrate. The Magistrate represented the British empire and had great powers at this position. But Keshavrao was true to his Motherland and culture. He dressed very much like an Indian and never left for work without his usual prayers and rituals. He read the ‘Guru Charitra’ (biography of the Guru/preacher). He vowed and helped the needy and poor students in their education and at times even by providing food.
He was married to Gangabai, daughter of RamaKrishna Moreshwar Halabe from the village of Muth, near Khanu. He had a happy and content family with 6 sons and 5 daughters. He worked mostly in Ratnagiri except for the last 5-6 years of his service years.
My Grandfather stayed in a home in Ratnagiri that belonged to Shree Digambardas Maharaj’s family. This house was located in ‘Parhya’s lane’ in Ratnagiri. Keshavrao was very good friends with Shree Digambardas Maharaj’s father; not a single day passed without them meeting each other. This kind of attachment and love continued from one generation to another (eg: My father was very good friends with Shree Digambardas Maharaj).
My Grandfather earned a salary of Rs. 250-300 back in those days. The prices of all commodities were so economical that one could buy a whole big bag of rice for merely Rs1.50. Hence, there was ample prosperity in my grandfather’s house. The atmosphere in the house was pure and devout. One Brahmin was hired especially to teach sacrificial duties to all students in the household. Two cooks were engaged all day to cook meals for the students. Approx. 60-70 people were being served a meal every day. The doors were always open for everyone including students, poor and needy, unexpected guests as well as strangers. My grandfather’s personality had left a deep impression on Shree Digambardas Maharaj to such an extent that even in the future, when he was angry or upset at me, he would say, ’I am only pardoning you because you are the grandson of Keshavrao’. In reality, Shree Digambardas Maharaj was very good friends with my father (Nana), but I was pardoned not as his son, but as the grandson of Keshavrao.
Shree Maharaj loved sharing stories about my grandfather with joy. The meals cooked in the house in Ratnagiri, were prepared wearing special clothes like a silk dhotee or silk saree. No one was allowed to enter the kitchen except for Keshavrao. He would directly go to the kitchen and call out for Shree Maharaj’s mother ‘Give me that curry you cooked.’. Shree Maharaj often pretended like Keshavrao and the way he tied his handkerchief around his head and imitated his social behaviour.
In the year 1930, at Chennai, Panvel Taluka, Raigad District, there was a Jungle Satyagraha (non-resistant strike) against the British Government. Keshavrao was the Magistrate for Panvel, Raigad District. He personally attended the Satyagraha to keep control on any unforeseen circumstances. The Satyagraha was going peacefully and with discipline. But all of a sudden, the Police entered the area and started hitting people participating in the Satyagraha for no valid reason. They also put handcuffs on some and passed abusive comments. Keshavrao could not tolerate this provocative tendency of the Police and compelled the Police to stop the beating and remove handcuffs off innocent people.
A little later, he went to a nearby well to drink some water, when an agitated Police inspector, Patil, took the opportunity to start firing at the innocent ‘Satyagrahees’. This Police inspector had lost his senses and also shot angrily at the Magistrate (Keshavrao) who came running to stop the firing. Twelve people lost their lives and hundreds were injured in this dreadful firing. My grandfather, Keshavrao Mahadeo Joshi, became a martyr in this battle of independence on 26/9/1930; he was only 52 years old then.
At the time of his death, my grandmother Gangabai was pregnant and already a mother of 11 children. My oldest uncle Vinayak and my father Raghunath were the oldest and matured enough. With the help of these two grown-up sons, my grandmother stood the test of difficult situation with endurance. My youngest uncle, Madhukar Keshav Joshi was born on 1/1/1931, three months after the death of my grandmother.
My grandfather had seven sons viz. Vinayak, Raghunath, Bhaskar, Ramachandra, Vasant, Prabhakar and Madhukar. In addition, he also had 5 daughters named after the Panchakanyas – the five celebrated chaste and dutiful wives from the epics – Ahilya, Draupadi, Seeta, Tara and Mandodari.
My eldest uncle, Vinayak was rarely known with his true name. He was instead known as ‘Dattudada’ in the family as well as outside. He was never well off financially, but he was surely a person of good character. He had worked as a Police Patil (Village head) of Ratnagiri for 40 – 50 years. During the year 1927, our grandfather had helped him open a new cloth store investing 25 – 30 thousand rupees at the Gokhale road corner in Ratnagiri. But my uncle Vinayak ran the business like Saint Tukaram and soon the store had to be closed due to heavy losses. Later, he set up a tailoring business and purchased 15-20 sewing machines. He had good mastery over the art of cutting cloth and stitching garments as per requirements of the customers. Even the British Collector got his suit stitched from here. Dattudada progressed well and earned a good name. But he was more attracted toward spiritualism and therefore, the tailoring business slowly came to an end.
Though business was slow, the tailoring shop was always lively and full of bustle with all the respectable people from the society. Most of these were educated doctors, lawyers, merchants, Government officers; in other words, they were the cream of the society who gathered in the evening after a busy work day and turned the place into a place full of humour and flavour. There were several rounds of tea and cigarettes that were ordered from the nearly Vihar restaurant. Since many of these people were from the ‘rational’ class, the discussions that took place were mostly intelligent in nature. My Sadguru, Shree Digambardas Maharaj also joined sometimes for light conversations.