Raghunath Paranjpye was born in Murdi near Dapoli on the coastal Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra to a Chitpavan Brahmin family.

As part of Diarchy in Bombay Presidency, Paranjpye was appointed as the first Minister for Education and he served in the position till 1923.

Acharya Atre has devoted one full chapter in his autobiography to Wrangler Paranjpye and has written about his fame all over the country and how because of him students from outside Maharashtra came to study at Ferguson College.

In 1991, the Government of India awarded R. P.'s daughter Shakuntala Paranjpye a Padma Bhushan title in recognition of her work in the field of family planning.

[15] In 2006, the Government of India awarded R. P.'s granddaughter Sai Paranjpye a Padma Bhushan title in recognition of her artistic talents.