Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil, born in Kumbhoj, Kolhapur, was a social activist and educator in Maharashtra, India. A strong advocate of mass education, he founded the Rayat Education Society. Bhaurao played an important role in educating backward castes and low income people by coining the philosophy earn and learn.He was a prominent member of Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth seeker's society), founded by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule. The people of Maharashtra honoured him with the sobriquet Karmaveer (King of actions) and the Government of India awarded him with Padma Bhushan in 1959 in IndiaKarmaveer Bhaurao Patil was born in a Marathi Jain farming family at Kumbhoj in Kolhapur district. Bhaurao's father was a clerk in the revenue department for East India company.[citation needed] Bhaurao was one of the first few Jains known to have passed 8th class of secondary school. During childhood, Bhaurao was heavily influenced by Chhatrapati Shahu, the ruler of Kolhapur State, who provided a facility to Bhaurao to stay in the palace of Kolhapur with Maharaj and study. Shahu was promoter of social equality and education of people belonging to backward castes. Eventually, his father sent him to Kolhapur for further education, where he got in contact with Satya Shodhak Movement and found other sources of inspiration, Mahatma Phule and Maharshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde.
