Ranjit Desai I Vikrant Pande

Ranjit Desai (8 April 1928-6 March 1992) was born in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra. Biographical novels were his forte. His most famous works are Morpankhi Sawalya, Shriman Yogi and Swami, based on the life of Madhavrao Peshwa, the third Peshwa. He won the Maharashtra Rajya Award (1963), Hari Narayan Apte Award (1963), the Sahitya Akademi Award (1964) and the Padmshri from the Government of India (1973).VIKRANT PANDE started translating from the Marathi with Ranjit Desai's classic novel Raja Ravi Varma, the story of India's most celebrated painter. He has since translated Milind Bokil's Shala, N.S. Inamdar's Rau: The Great Love Story of Bajirao Mastani and Shahenshah: The Life of Aurangzeb, Ranjit Desai's Shivaji: The Great Maratha and Karna: The Great Warrior. He is currently a vice chancellor with TeamLease Skills University, Vadodara.