Baba Padmanji (1831—1906) was celebrated as the pioneer of modern Marathi literature, whose works initiated progressive ideas in Marathi society. This book examines his life in the context of the larger social milieu of nineteenth-century western India. It engages with issues as diverse as education, women’s rights, morality, modern Marathi selfhood, religion and conversion. It also examines the epistemic split between his ideas of modernity and Christianity, and their links to his literary contributions. It presents Padmanji’s integrated writing persona and identity as a revolutionary pathfinder of his times who amalgamated and blended vernacular ideas of Christianity together with early feminism, modernity and incipient nationalism. It shows how his pioneering vernacular writings fundamentally challenged English missionary writings on ‘heathenism’ as superficial diatribes from the ‘outside’ that paled in comparison to Padmanji’s ‘insider’ critical empathy that outlined the importance of Christianity for modern Marathi belonging. Drawing on a variety of primary and secondary sources, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of modern India, especially the British Raj, religion and literature.