[3] The Government of India awarded him the fourth-highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1984[4] and issued a commemorative postage stamp with his image on 12 November 2009.

[5] Jhadav was born on 5 May 1908 at Gaganbavada, a small hamlet in the Kolhapur district of the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

[6] His education at the local school did not go beyond the primary levels due to financial constraints, but Jhadav taught himself by reading books.

[citation needed] During this period, he was involved with Satyashodhak Samaj, a social organization founded in 1873 by Jyotirao Phule, in their reformist activities, which gave him the opportunity to interact with several known Marathi personalities such as Keshavrao Jedhe, Dinkarrao Jawalkar, Achyutrao Kolhatkar, Bhaskarrao Jadhav, Bhargavaram Viththal Varerkar and M. G.

[4] He received the Acharya Atre Award of the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh in 1985 and the next year, the Shivaji University selected him for the DLitt degree (honoris causa).