Page 109 - Leadership in the Indian Army

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L IEUTENANT G ENERAL S.P.P. T HORAT ,

KC, DSO

A Professional to the Core

Shankarrao Pandurang Patil Thorat was a name well known in military
circles during and after World War II. One of the seniormost King’s

commissioned Indian officers, he was known and respected for his
professional acumen, impeccable conduct and forthright views. After a
brilliant career, during which he held some of the most coveted
appointments in India and abroad, he retired as an Army Commander in
1961. Along with Cariappa and Thimayya, he was one of the chief
architects of the Indian Army. Like Thimayya, he too fell out with the
irascible Krishna Menon and his counsel was ignored, leading to the

debacle and ignominy of 1962. In 1947, when India gained independence,
Thorat had a ringside seat and witnessed the momentous events at close
quarters. He had the unique opportunity to rub shoulders with great men
like Nehru and Patel, the founding fathers of modern India. It is a tribute to
his reputation that in spite of his close association with political leaders,
there was never a whiff or whisper tainting his conduct as an officer and a

gentleman.
Thorat was born on 12 August 1906 in Vadgaon village in the erstwhile
princely state of Kolhapur. His father, Rao Bahadur Dr Pandurang Chimnaji
Patil Thorat, was the village headman, who later became the principal of the
Agricultural College in Poona and, after retirement, the Minister for
Agriculture and Education in Kolhapur State. Thorat was the eldest of four
children, including one sister. He received his early education at the village

school, and then at various other places depending on where his father was
posted. In 1914, Dr Thorat was transferred to Poona, where he moved with
his entire family. Young Thorat was initially admitted to the Poona High
School, and later shifted to Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya, from where he