Setumadhavarao Pagadi

{{use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}

{{use Indian English|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Sethu Madhav Rao Pagdi

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = August 27, 1910

| birth_place = Nilanga, Hyderabad State
{{small|(present-day Maharashtra)}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1994|10|14|1910|8|27}}

| death_place =

| alma_mater = {{ubl|Benares Hindu University|Allahabad University}}

| education = B.A., M.A

| occupation = historian, administrator

| spouse =

| awards = Padma Bhushan (1992)

}}

Setumadhavarao Pagdi or Sethu Madhav Rao PagdiK. Venkateshwarlu, [http://www.thehindu.com/books/a-slice-of-marathi-history/article2004502.ece A slice of Marathi history], The Hindu, 9 May 2011. (27 August 1910 – 14 October 1994) was an Indian civil servant, a polyglot linguist, an accomplished historian and a distinguished man of letters specialised in modern Maratha history, especially the history of Shivaji.{{cite book|title=Indica, Volume 32|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4hZDAAAAYAAJ|publisher=Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, St. Xavier's College|year=1995|page=67|quote=In the person of Setu Madhavrao, who died last October at the age of 85, India has lost an outstanding intellect: an able civil servant, an accomplished historian and a distinguished man of letters.}} He also worked as the secretary of Government of Maharashtra. As a secretary he did his job fairly well. Setu Madhavrao was well versed in Marathi, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and Persian, apart from Kannada, which was his mother tongue. As a linguist he discovered the sound system and Grammars of tribal languages like Kolami and Gondi. He was one who served the cause of Marathi against all odds in pre and post - Independent Hyderabad state.{{Sfn|Deshpande|2005|p=68}} Following in the footsteps of the noted Bengali historian Jadunath Sarkar, Setu Madhavrao wrote Shivaji's biography in Marathi and English and the theory enkindled the spirit of nationalism in his readers.{{Sfn|Deshpande|2005|p=69}}

The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1992.{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2015 | access-date=July 21, 2015}}