Chintaman Vinayak Joshi

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Chintaman Vinayak Joshi (19 January 1892 – 21 November 1963) was a Marathi humorist, essayist, and scholar of Pali and Buddhism from Maharashtra, India. He was popularly known as Chin. Vi. Joshi.

Born in Pune, he studied at Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya and earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Fergusson College in 1913 and an M.A. in Pali and English literature from Mumbai University in 1915. He taught at a high school from 1915 to 1919 in Umaravati and Ratnagiri. In 1920 he became a professor at a Baroda college, teaching Pali, English, and Marathi literature, and from 1928 he also served as Director of Archives for Baroda. After retirement he moved back to Pune.

Joshi wrote many humorous stories, biographies, children's books, historical articles, and other scholarly works. His humor made him famous, and his writings inspired the 1942 Marathi film Sarkari Pahune directed by Master Vinayak, and the 1977 Doordarshan TV serial Chimanrao Gundyabhau. S. D. Phadnis illustrated many of his books. Many of his books remain in print.