Prabodhankar Thackeray

Prabodhankar Thackeray
Commemorative stamp by India Post, 2002
Born	Keshav Thakre (1885-09-17)17 September 1885 Panvel, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died	20 November 1973(1973-11-20) (aged 88) Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Residence	Shivaji Park, Mumbai, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Calcutta University
Occupation	Writer, politician, social activist
Movement	Samyukta Maharashtra Movement
Children	Bal Thackeray, Shrikant Thackeray, Ramesh Thackeray, Pama Tipnis, Sarla Gadkari, Susheela Gupte, Sanjeevani Karandikar.
Parent(s)	Sitaram Thackeray
Relatives	Raj Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray

Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, (17 September 1885 – 20 November 1973), commonly known by his pen name Prabodhankar Thackeray, was an Indian politician, social activist and author. He was one of the key leaders of the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti which successfully campaigned for the linguistic state of Maharashtra. He was the father of Bal Thackeray, who founded Shiv Sena, a Marathi Hindu regionalist party. He is also the grandfather of Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.

Keshav Thackeray was born on 17 September 1885 in Panvel in a Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu family. According to his autobiography Mazhi Jeevangatha, one of his ancestors was a kiladar of the Dhodap fort during the Maratha rule. His great-grandfather Krishnaji Madhav ("Appasaheb") resided in Pali, Raigad, while his grandfather Ramchandra "Bhikoba" Dhodapkar settled in Panvel. Keshav's father Sitaram adopted the lastname "Panvelkar" as per the tradition, but while admitting his son in the school, he gave him the surname "Thakre", which was apparently their traditional family name before "Dhodapkar". An admirer of the India-born British writer William Makepeace Thackeray, Keshav later anglicized the spelling of his surname to "Thackeray".

When Keshav was still a teenager, his father died in a plague epidemic, in 1902. Keshav was educated at Panvel, Kalyan, Baramati and Bombay (now Mumbai). Outside the Bombay Presidency, he studied at the Victoria High School in Dewas (Central Provinces), and later, at the Calcutta University. He finally settled in Bombay.