Lahuji Raghoji Salve was a Hindu reformer and an activist who worked for the upliftment of Dalits in Maharashtra. Born in 1794, Lahuji took up building gymnasiums, and used martial arts as a method of empowering people from the lower castes. He preached ideas of freedom from the British and also mentored several leaders like Jyotiba Phule and Vasudev Balwant Phadke. Lahuji spent a lifetime recruiting Dalit children to Phule’s schools and passed away in 1881 in Pune.