Shahu IV (26 June 1874 – 6 May 1922) was the first Maharaja

Maharaja

Mahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king". The female equivalent title Maharani denotes either the wife of a Maharaja or, in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajamata...

 of the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n princely state

Princely state

A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

 of Kolhapur between 1894 and 1922. He was also known as Rajarshi Shahuji Chhatrapati and Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj.

Shahu was born on 26 June 1874 as Yeshwantrao Ghatge, eldest son of Appasaheb Ghatge, chief of Kagal

Kagal

Kagal is a town lying in Kolhapur district of the Indian state of Maharashtra.During the days of the British Raj, the town was the seat of a noble family who were among the most important princely state of Kolhapur.-Geography:...

 (senior) by his wife Radhabai, a daughter of the Raja of Mudhol

Mudhol

Mudhol is a town in the Bagalkot District in the Northern part of the state of Karnataka, India. It is about 60 km from the district headquarters of Bagalkot town on the left bank of the Ghataprabha River...

 [Karnataka].