It was on January 6, 1832 that a 20-year-old Bal Shastri Jambhekar founded the Marathi newspaper Darpan. Every year, this day is celebrated as Marathi Patrakar Din—to remember Jambhekar’s journalism, which took on the British.

This commemorative day generates predictable copy on Jambhekar’s belief in the printed word. But the social reformer had many other dimensions. He was a celebrated polyglot with a hold over eight-odd languages; he set up the Bombay Native General Public Library—one of the foremost institutions which shaped 19th-century Mumbai. He was a person of eclectic literary and scientific pursuits which reflect in his varied achievements. Not only was he the director of the Colaba Observatory, but he was also the author of the Encyclopaedic History of English Grammar.