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Jyotirao Phule

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890) was an Indian social activist, businessman, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.[3][4] His work extended to many fields, including eradication of untouchability and the caste system and for his efforts in educating women and oppressed caste people.[5] He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women's education in India.[5][6] Phule started his first school for girls in 1848 in Pune at Tatyasaheb Bhide's residence or Bhidewada.[7] He, along with his followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Truth Seekers) to attain equal rights for people from lower castes. People from all religions and castes could become a part of this association which worked for the upliftment of the oppressed classes. Phule is regarded as an important figure in the social reform movement in Maharashtra.The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "great-souled", "venerable"), was first applied to him in 1888 at a special program honoring him in Mumbai.[8].[9][10]


Jyotirao Phule
Photograph of Jyotirao Phule
Born(1827-04-11)11 April 1827
Died28 November 1890(1890-11-28) (aged 63)
Other names• Jyotiba Phule[1] • Mahatma Phule[1]
Alma mater• Scottish Mission highschool, Poona (1842)[1]
Notable workBrahmananche Kasab (1869) [2]

Shetkaryancha Aasud[1] (1883) • Gulamgiri[1] (1873)

Trutiya Ratna (1855)
SpouseSavitribai Phule
Children1
Family• Govindrao Phule (father) [1] • Chimanabai Phule (mother) [1]
Era1827- 1890
LanguageMarathi
Main interests
Ethics, humanism, education, social reformation
Influences
Influenced

Early life

Jyotirao Phule was born in Poona (Now Pune) in 1827 to a family that belonged to the Mali caste.[11] The Malis traditionally worked as fruit and vegetable growers: in the four-fold varna system of caste hierarchy, they were placed within the Shudras.[12][13][14] Phule was named after God Jyotiba. He was born on the day of Jyotiba's annual fair.[15] Phule's family, previously named Gorhe, had its origins in the village of Katgun, near the town of Satara.[16] Phule's great-grandfather, who had worked there as a chaughula, or low-ranking village official,[12][16] moved to Khanwadi in Pune district. There, his only son, Shetiba, brought the family into poverty.[16] The family, including three sons, moved to Poona seeking employment.[12][16] The boys were taken under the wing of a florist who taught them the secrets of the trade. Their proficiency in growing and arranging became well known and they adopted the name Phule (flower-man) in place of Gorhe.[16] Their fulfillment of commissions from the Peshwa, Baji Rao II, for flower mattresses and other goods for the rituals and ceremonies of the royal court so impressed him that he granted them 35 acres (14 ha) of land on the basis of the Inam system, whereby no tax would be payable upon it.[12] The oldest brother machinated to take sole control of the property, leaving the younger two siblings, Jyotirao Phule's father, Govindrao, to continue farming and also flower-selling.[16]

Govindrao married Chimnabai and had two sons, of whom Jyotirao was the youngest. Chimnabai died before he was aged one.[16] The then backward Mali community did not use give much significance to the education and thus after attending primary school where he learnt the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, Jyotirao was withdrawn from the school by his father. He joined the other members of his family at work, both in the shop and in the farm. However, a man from the same Mali caste as Phule recognised his intelligence and persuaded Phule's father to allow Phule to attend the local Scottish Mission High School.[17][18][a] Phule completed his English schooling in 1847. As was customary, he was married at the young age of 13, to a girl of his Mali community, chosen by his father.[20]

The turning point in his life was in 1848, when he attended the wedding of a Brahmin friend. Phule participated in the customary marriage procession, but was later rebuked and insulted by his friend's parents for doing so. They told him that he being from a Shudra caste should have had the sense to keep away from that ceremony. This incident profoundly affected Phule and shaped his understanding of the injustice inherent to the caste system.[21]

Social activism

Education

 
Mahatma Phule Wada, Pune. This is the place where Phule stayed with his wife Savitribai Phule for a certain period in his life. It was built in around 1852.

In 1848, aged 21, Phule visited a girls' school in Ahmednagar run by Christian missionary Cynthia Farrar.[22] [23]It was also in 1848 that he read Thomas Paine's book Rights of Man and developed a keen sense of social justice. He realized that exploited castes and women were at a disadvantage in Indian society, and also that education of these sections was vital to their emancipation.[24] To this end and in the same year, Phule first taught reading and writing to his wife, Savitribai, and then the couple started the first indigenously run school for girls in Pune.[25][b] He also taught his sister Sagunabai Kshirsagar (his maternal aunt's daughter) to write Marathi with Savitribai.[26][15] The conservative upper caste society of Pune didn't approve of his work. But many Indians and Europeans helped him generously. Conservatives in Pune also forced his own family and community to ostracize them. During this period, their friend Usman Sheikh and his sister Fatima Sheikh provided them with shelter. They also helped to start the school on their premises.[27] Later, the Phules started schools for children from the then untouchable castes such as Mahar and Mang.[28] In 1852, there were three Phule schools in operation 273 girls were pursuing education in these school but by 1858 they had all closed. Eleanor Zelliot blames the closure on private European donations drying up due to the Indian Mutiny of 1857, withdrawal of government support, and Jyotirao resigning from the school management committee because of disagreement regarding the curriculum.[29]

Women's welfare

Phule watched how untouchables were not permitted to pollute anyone with their shadows and that they had to attach a broom to their backs to wipe the path on which they had traveled. He saw young widows shaving their heads, refraining from any sort of joy in their life. He saw how untouchable women had been forced to dance naked. He made the decision to educate women by witnessing all these social evils that encouraged unequality. He began with his wife, every afternoon, Jyotirao sat with his wife Savitribai Phule and educated her when she went to the farms where he worked, to bring him his meal. He sent his wife to get trained at a school. The husband and wife set up India's first girls' school in Vishrambag Wada, Pune, in 1848.[30]

He championed widow remarriage and started a home for dominant caste pregnant widows to give birth in a safe and secure place in 1863.[31] His orphanage was established in an attempt to reduce the rate of infanticide.[32]

In 1863, Pune witnessed a horrific incident. A Brahmin widow named Kashibai got pregnant and her attempts at abortion didn't succeed. She killed the baby after giving it birth and threw it in a well, but her act came to light. She had to face punishment and was sentenced to jail. This incident greatly upset Phule and hence, along with his longtime friend Sadashiv Ballal Govande and Savitribai, he started an infanticide prevention centre. Pamphlets were stuck around Pune advertising the centre in the following words: "Widows, come here and deliver your baby safely and secretly. It is up to your discretion whether you want to keep the baby in the centre or take it with you. This orphanage will take care of the children [left behind]." The Phule couple ran the infanticide prevention centre until the mid-1880s.[32]

Phule tried to eliminate the stigma of social untouchability surrounding the exploited castes by opening his house and the use of his water well to the members of the exploited castes.[33]

Views on religion and caste

Phule appealed for restablishment of the reign of mythical Mahabali (King Bali) which predated "Aryans' treacherous coup d'etat".[34] He proposed his own version of Aryan invasion theory that the Aryan conquerors of India, whom the theory's proponents considered to be racially superior, were in fact barbaric suppressors of the indigenous people. He believed that they had instituted the caste system as a framework for subjugation and social division that ensured the pre-eminence of their Brahmin successors. He saw the subsequent Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent as more of the same sort of thing, being a repressive alien regime, but took heart in the arrival of the British, whom he considered to be relatively enlightened and not supportive of the varnashramadharma system instigated and then perpetuated by those previous invaders.[35][c] In his book, Gulamgiri, he thanked Christian missionaries and the British colonists for making the exploited castes realise that they are worthy of all human rights.[37] The book, whose title transliterates as slavery and which concerned women, caste and reform, was dedicated to the people in the US who were working to end slavery.[38][better source needed]

Phule saw Vishnu's avatars as a symbol of oppression stemming from the Aryan conquests and took Mahabali (Bali Raja) as hero.[39] His critique of the caste system began with an attack on the Vedas, the most fundamental texts of Hindus.[40] He considered them to be a form of false consciousness.[41]

He is credited with introducing the Marathi word dalit (broken, crushed) as a descriptor for those people who were outside the traditional varna system.[42]

At an education commission hearing in 1882, Phule called for help in providing education for lower castes.[43] To implement it, he advocated making primary education compulsory in villages. He also asked for special incentives to get more lower-caste people in high schools and colleges.[44]

Satyashodhak Samaj

On 24 September 1874, Phule formed Satyashodhak Samaj to focus on rights of depressed groups such women, the Shudra, and the Dalit.[31][45][46] Through this samaj, he opposed idolatry and denounced the caste system. Satyashodhak Samaj campaigned for the spread of rational thinking and rejected the need for priests.

Phule established Satyashodhak Samaj with the ideals of human well-being, happiness, unity, equality, and easy religious principles and rituals.[46] A Pune-based newspaper, Deenbandhu, provided the voice for the views of the Samaj.[47]

The membership of the samaj included Muslims, Brahmins and government officials. Phule's own Mali caste provided the leading members and financial supporters for the organization.[45]

Occupation

 
Statues of Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, at Aurangabad in Maharashtra

Apart from his role as a social activist, Phule was a businessman too. In 1882 he styled himself as a merchant, cultivator and municipal contractor.[48] He owned 60 acres (24 ha) of farmland at Manjri, near Pune.[49] For period of time, he worked as a contractor for the government and supplied building materials required for the construction of a dam on the Mula-Mutha river near Pune in the 1870s.[50] He also received contracts to provide labour for the construction of the Katraj Tunnel and the Yerawda Jail near Pune.[51] One of Phule's businesses, established in 1863, was to supply metal-casting equipment.[31]

Phule was appointed commissioner (municipal council member) to the then Poona municipality in 1876 and served in this unelected position until 1883.[52]

Published works

Phule's akhandas were organically linked to the abhangs of Marathi Varkari saint Tukaram.[53] Among his notable published works are:

  • Tritiya Ratna, 1855
  • Brahmananche Kasab, 1869
  • Powada : Chatrapati Shivajiraje Bhosle Yancha, [English: Life Of Shivaji, In Poetical Metre], June 1869
  • Powada: Vidyakhatyatil Brahman Pantoji, June 1869
  • Manav Mahammand (Muhammad) (Abhang)
  • Gulamgiri, 1873
  • Shetkarayacha Aasud (Cultivator's Whipcord), July 1881
  • Satsar Ank 1, June 1885
  • Satsar Ank 2 June 1885
  • Ishara, October 1885
  • Gramjoshya sambhandi jahir kabhar, (1886)
  • Satyashodhak Samajokt Mangalashtakasah Sarva Puja-vidhi, 1887
  • Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Poostak, April 1889
  • Sarvajanic Satya Dharmapustak, 1891
  • Akhandadi Kavyarachana
  • Asprushyanchi Kaifiyat

Legacy

 
The Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee unveiled the statue of Jyotirao Phule at Parliament House in New Delhi on 3 December 2003.
 
A statue of Jyotiba Phule in the town of Karad, Satara district

According to Dhananjay Keer, Phule was bestowed with the title of Mahatma on 11 May 1888 by another social reformer from Bombay, Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar.[8]

 

Indian Postal Department issued a postage stamp in year 1977 in the honour of Phule.

An early biography of Phule was the Marathi-language Mahatma Jotirao Phule Yanche Charitra (P. S. Patil, Chikali: 1927).[54] Two others are Mahatma Phule. Caritra Va Kriya (Mahatma Phule. Life and Work) (A. K. Ghorpade, Poona: 1953), which is also in Marathi, and Mahatma Jyotibha Phule: Father of Our Social Revolution (Dhananjay Keer, Bombay: 1974). Unpublished material relating to him is held by the Bombay State Committee on the History of the Freedom Movement.[55]

Phule's work inspired B. R. Ambedkar, the first minister of law of India and the chief of Indian constitution's drafting committee. Ambedkar had acknowledged Phule as one of his three gurus or masters.[56][57][58]

There are many structures and places commemorating Phule. These include:

In popular culture

References

Notes

  1. ^ The Scottish Mission school was operated by the Free Church of Scotland and educated pupils from a wide range of castes.[19]
  2. ^ The American missionary Cynthia Farrar had started a girls' school in Bombay in In 1847, the Students' literary and scientific society started the Kamalabai high school for girls in the Girgaon neighborhood of Bombay. The school is still operational in 2016. Peary Charan Sarkar started a school for girls called Kalikrishna Girls' High School in the Bengali town of Barasat in 1847. The Parsi community Mumbai had also established a school for girls in 1847.
  3. ^ Varnashramadharma has been described by Dietmar Rothermund as the Indian societal system that "regulates the duty (dharma) of every man according to his caste (varna) and age-grade (ashrama)".[36]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g . Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "The Polemics of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule on His Birth Anniversary". 28 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Remembering Jyotirao Phule: The Pioneer Of Girls' Education In India". NDTV.com. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Mahatma Jyotirao Phule: Reformer far ahead of his time". Hindustan Times. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Remembering the pioneer of women's education in India: Contributions by Jyotirao Phule". India Today. Retrieved 18 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Savitribai Phule: The pioneer of women's education in India". The Week. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  7. ^ Jill Sperandio (11 December 2018). Pioneering Education for Girls across the Globe: Advocates and Entrepreneurs, 1742-1910. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-4985-2488-9.
  8. ^ a b Keer (1974), p. 247.
  9. ^ "Who was Jyotirao Phule?". The Indian Express. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  10. ^ "जोतिबा फुले 'महात्मा' कसे बनले?". BBC News मराठी (in Marathi). Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  11. ^ O'Hanlon (2002), pp. 3, 105–106.
  12. ^ a b c d O'Hanlon (2002), pp. 105–106.
  13. ^ Jadhav, M. H. (1986). "Anti-Caste Movement in Maharashtra". Economic and Political Weekly. 21 (17): 740–742. JSTOR 4375602.
  14. ^ Brown, Kevin D. (2018). "African-American Perspectives on Common Struggles". In Yengde, Suraj; Teltumbde, Anand (eds.). The Radical in Ambedkar. Penguin Books. pp. 45–54. ISBN 9789353053130.
  15. ^ a b "सामाजिक व शैक्षणिक क्रांतीचे जनक महात्मा जोतिबा फुले | Sakal". www.esakal.com. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Keer (1974), pp. 1–3.
  17. ^ Rowena Robinson; Joseph Marianus Kujur (17 August 2010). Margins of Faith: Dalit and Tribal Christianity in India. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 978-93-86042-93-4.
  18. ^ O'Hanlon (2002), p. 110.
  19. ^ O'Hanlon (2002), p. 105.
  20. ^ Phule, Jotirao (1991). Selections: Collected Works of Mahatma Jotirao Phule Vol II. Mumbai: Government of Maharashtra. pp. xv.[permanent dead link]
  21. ^ Phule, Jotirao (1991). Selections: Collected Works of Mahatma Jotirao Phule Vol II. Mumbai: Government of Maharashtra. pp. xvi.[permanent dead link]
  22. ^ The Satya Shodhak https://thesatyashodhak.com/cynthia-farrar-missionary-woman-who-inspired-jotirao-phule/&ved=2ahUKEwiaqJmGw9D9AhX-TmwGHVo_AaEQFnoECAwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1FVk2f3aZNrtcQMecqvZ59. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ^ "American Marathi mission..." Sakal.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ O'Hanlon (2002), pp. 110–113.
  25. ^ O'Hanlon (2002), p. 118.
  26. ^ "सावित्रीबाई: स्त्रीमुक्तीच्या आद्य प्रणेत्या". Maharashtra Times (in Marathi). Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  27. ^ Mohan, Siddhant (7 April 2017). "Remembering Fatima Sheikh, the first Muslim teacher who laid the foundation of Dalit-Muslim unity". Two Circles.
  28. ^ Sabyasachi Bhattacharya (2002). Education and the Disprivileged: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century India. Orient Blackswan. pp. 35–37. ISBN 978-81-250-2192-6.
  29. ^ Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi; Zelliot, Eleanor (author) (2002). Education and the disprivileged : nineteenth and twentieth-century India (1. publ. ed.). Hyderabad: Orient Longman. pp. 35–37. ISBN 9788125021926. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
  30. ^ "How Savitribai Phule, India's first female teacher, dealt with abusers hell bent on preventing her from educating girls". India Today.
  31. ^ a b c O'Hanlon (2002), p. 135.
  32. ^ a b Figueira (2012), p. 147.
  33. ^ ANI (11 April 2017). "PM Modi pays tributes to Mahatma Phule on his birth anniversary". Business Standard India. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  34. ^ Figueira (2012), p. 148.
  35. ^ Figueira (2012), pp. 143–157.
  36. ^ Rothermund, Dietmar (1968). "Emancipation or Re-integration". In Low, D. A. (ed.). Soundings in Modern South Asian History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 132.
  37. ^ Doctor, Adi H. (1994). "Missionary Teachings and Social Reformers in 19th Century India". In de Souza, Teotonio R. (ed.). Discoveries, Missionary Expansion and Asian Cultures. Concept Publishing. pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-8-17022-497-6.
  38. ^ Foole, Mahatma Jyotirao (2007). Gulamgiri (in Hindi). Gautam Book Center. p. 7. ISBN 978-8-18773-373-7.
  39. ^ Omvedt, Gail (2011). Understanding Caste: From Buddha to Ambedkar and Beyond. Orient Blackswan. p. 62. ISBN 978-81-250-4175-7.
  40. ^ O'Hanlon (2002), p. 147-149.
  41. ^ Figueira (2012), p. 149.
  42. ^ Nisar, M.; Kandasamy, Meena (2007). Ayyankali — Dalit Leader of Organic Protest. Other Books. p. 8. ISBN 978-8-19038-876-4.
  43. ^ Human Rights and Budgets in India. Socio Legal Information Cent. 2009. pp. 70–. ISBN 978-81-89479-58-9.
  44. ^ "Mahatma Jyotirao Phule: Reformer Far Ahead of his Time". Hindustan Times. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  45. ^ a b Bhadru, G. (2002). "Contribution of Shatyashodhak Samaj to the Low Caste Protest Movement in 19th Century". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 63: 845–854. JSTOR 44158153.
  46. ^ a b . University of Pune. Archived from the original on 11 March 2009.
  47. ^ Charlesworth, Neil (2002). Peasants and Imperial Rule: Agriculture and Agrarian Society in the Bombay Presidency 1850–1935 (Revised ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-52152-640-1.
  48. ^ Keer (1974), p. 172.
  49. ^ Gavaskar, Mahesh (1999). "Phule's critique of Brahmin power". In Michael, S. M. (ed.). Untouchable: Dalits in Modern India. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner. p. 45. ISBN 978-155587-697-5.
  50. ^ Kale, Govind Ganapat (11 April 2020). "Snapshots from Mahatma Jotirao Phule's life, through the eyes of his close aide". www.thenewsminute.com. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  51. ^ Bhadru, G. (2002). "Contribution of Shatyashodhak Samaj to the Low Caste Protest Movement in 19Th Century". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 63: 845–854. JSTOR 44158153.
  52. ^ Keer (1974), p. 143.
  53. ^ Thakkar, Usha (Editor); Kamala Ganesh, Kamala (Editor); Bhagwat, Vidyut (Author) (2005). Culture and the making of identity in contemporary India. New Delhi: Sage Publications. p. 169. ISBN 9780761933816. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
  54. ^ O'Hanlon (1992), p. 107.
  55. ^ Sarkar (1975), pp. 32–33, 40.
  56. ^ Teltumbde, Anand; Yengde, Suraj (2 November 2018). The Radical in Ambedkar: Critical Reflections. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 9789353053130. Retrieved 24 April 2019 – via Google Books.
  57. ^ "The Greatness of Mahatma Jotiba Phule". 11 April 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  58. ^ "मेरा जीवन तीन गुरुओं और तीन उपास्यों से बना है- बाबासाहब डॉ बीआर अम्बेडकर". Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  59. ^ "Life As Message". Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 24. 16 June 2012.
  60. ^ "सावित्री-जोतिरावांच्या चरित्रावर मालिका". Loksatta (in Marathi). Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  61. ^ "TRP मिळत नसल्यानं सावित्रीबाई फुलेंवरची मालिका अखेर बंद". Maharashtra Times (in Marathi). Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  62. ^ R, Shilpa Sebastian (8 August 2018). "Will it be a hat-trick?". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 January 2019.

Bibliography

  • Figueira, Dorothy Matilda (2012), Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority Through Myths of Identity, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-79148-783-9
  • Keer, Dhananjay (1974), Mahatma Jotirao Phooley: Father of the Indian Social Revolution, Mumbai, India: Popular Prakashan, ISBN 978-81-7154-066-2
  • O'Hanlon, Rosalind (1992), "Issues of Widowhood in Colonial Western India", in Haynes, Douglas E.; Prakash, Gyan (eds.), Contesting Power: Resistance and Everyday Social Relations in South Asia, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-52007-585-6
  • O'Hanlon, Rosalind (2002) [1985], Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India (Revised ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-52152-308-0
  • Sarkar, Sumit (1975), Bibliographical Survey of Social Reform Movements in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Motilal Banarsidass/Indian Council of Historical Research

Further reading

  • Gavaskar, Mahesh (1999). "Phule's Critique of Brahmin Power". In Michael, S. M. (ed.). Untouchable, Dalits in Modern India. Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 43–56. ISBN 978-1-55587-697-5.
  • Guha, Ramachandra, ed. (2011). Makers of Modern India. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-67405-246-8.
  • Wayne, Tiffany K., ed. (2011). Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World: A Global Sourcebook and History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-31334-581-4.

External links

jyotirao, phule, mahatma, phule, redirects, here, 1954, film, mahatma, phule, film, jyotirao, govindrao, phule, april, 1827, november, 1890, indian, social, activist, businessman, anti, caste, social, reformer, writer, from, maharashtra, work, extended, many, . Mahatma Phule redirects here For 1954 film see Mahatma Phule film Jyotirao Govindrao Phule 11 April 1827 28 November 1890 was an Indian social activist businessman anti caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra 3 4 His work extended to many fields including eradication of untouchability and the caste system and for his efforts in educating women and oppressed caste people 5 He and his wife Savitribai Phule were pioneers of women s education in India 5 6 Phule started his first school for girls in 1848 in Pune at Tatyasaheb Bhide s residence or Bhidewada 7 He along with his followers formed the Satyashodhak Samaj Society of Truth Seekers to attain equal rights for people from lower castes People from all religions and castes could become a part of this association which worked for the upliftment of the oppressed classes Phule is regarded as an important figure in the social reform movement in Maharashtra The honorific Mahatma Sanskrit great souled venerable was first applied to him in 1888 at a special program honoring him in Mumbai 8 9 10 MahatmaJyotirao PhulePhotograph of Jyotirao PhuleBorn 1827 04 11 11 April 1827Poona Bombay Presidency British India present Pune Maharashtra India Died28 November 1890 1890 11 28 aged 63 Poona Bombay Presidency British India Maharashtra India Other names Jyotiba Phule 1 Mahatma Phule 1 Alma mater Scottish Mission highschool Poona 1842 1 Notable work Brahmananche Kasab 1869 2 Shetkaryancha Aasud 1 1883 Gulamgiri 1 1873 Trutiya Ratna 1855 SpouseSavitribai PhuleChildren1Family Govindrao Phule father 1 Chimanabai Phule mother 1 Era1827 1890LanguageMarathiMain interestsEthics humanism education social reformationInfluences Thomas PaineInfluenced B R Ambedkar Contents 1 Early life 2 Social activism 2 1 Education 2 2 Women s welfare 2 3 Views on religion and caste 2 4 Satyashodhak Samaj 3 Occupation 4 Published works 5 Legacy 5 1 In popular culture 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksEarly life EditJyotirao Phule was born in Poona Now Pune in 1827 to a family that belonged to the Mali caste 11 The Malis traditionally worked as fruit and vegetable growers in the four fold varna system of caste hierarchy they were placed within the Shudras 12 13 14 Phule was named after God Jyotiba He was born on the day of Jyotiba s annual fair 15 Phule s family previously named Gorhe had its origins in the village of Katgun near the town of Satara 16 Phule s great grandfather who had worked there as a chaughula or low ranking village official 12 16 moved to Khanwadi in Pune district There his only son Shetiba brought the family into poverty 16 The family including three sons moved to Poona seeking employment 12 16 The boys were taken under the wing of a florist who taught them the secrets of the trade Their proficiency in growing and arranging became well known and they adopted the name Phule flower man in place of Gorhe 16 Their fulfillment of commissions from the Peshwa Baji Rao II for flower mattresses and other goods for the rituals and ceremonies of the royal court so impressed him that he granted them 35 acres 14 ha of land on the basis of the Inam system whereby no tax would be payable upon it 12 The oldest brother machinated to take sole control of the property leaving the younger two siblings Jyotirao Phule s father Govindrao to continue farming and also flower selling 16 Govindrao married Chimnabai and had two sons of whom Jyotirao was the youngest Chimnabai died before he was aged one 16 The then backward Mali community did not use give much significance to the education and thus after attending primary school where he learnt the basics of reading writing and arithmetic Jyotirao was withdrawn from the school by his father He joined the other members of his family at work both in the shop and in the farm However a man from the same Mali caste as Phule recognised his intelligence and persuaded Phule s father to allow Phule to attend the local Scottish Mission High School 17 18 a Phule completed his English schooling in 1847 As was customary he was married at the young age of 13 to a girl of his Mali community chosen by his father 20 The turning point in his life was in 1848 when he attended the wedding of a Brahmin friend Phule participated in the customary marriage procession but was later rebuked and insulted by his friend s parents for doing so They told him that he being from a Shudra caste should have had the sense to keep away from that ceremony This incident profoundly affected Phule and shaped his understanding of the injustice inherent to the caste system 21 Social activism EditEducation Edit Mahatma Phule Wada Pune This is the place where Phule stayed with his wife Savitribai Phule for a certain period in his life It was built in around 1852 In 1848 aged 21 Phule visited a girls school in Ahmednagar run by Christian missionary Cynthia Farrar 22 23 It was also in 1848 that he read Thomas Paine s book Rights of Man and developed a keen sense of social justice He realized that exploited castes and women were at a disadvantage in Indian society and also that education of these sections was vital to their emancipation 24 To this end and in the same year Phule first taught reading and writing to his wife Savitribai and then the couple started the first indigenously run school for girls in Pune 25 b He also taught his sister Sagunabai Kshirsagar his maternal aunt s daughter to write Marathi with Savitribai 26 15 The conservative upper caste society of Pune didn t approve of his work But many Indians and Europeans helped him generously Conservatives in Pune also forced his own family and community to ostracize them During this period their friend Usman Sheikh and his sister Fatima Sheikh provided them with shelter They also helped to start the school on their premises 27 Later the Phules started schools for children from the then untouchable castes such as Mahar and Mang 28 In 1852 there were three Phule schools in operation 273 girls were pursuing education in these school but by 1858 they had all closed Eleanor Zelliot blames the closure on private European donations drying up due to the Indian Mutiny of 1857 withdrawal of government support and Jyotirao resigning from the school management committee because of disagreement regarding the curriculum 29 Women s welfare Edit Phule watched how untouchables were not permitted to pollute anyone with their shadows and that they had to attach a broom to their backs to wipe the path on which they had traveled He saw young widows shaving their heads refraining from any sort of joy in their life He saw how untouchable women had been forced to dance naked He made the decision to educate women by witnessing all these social evils that encouraged unequality He began with his wife every afternoon Jyotirao sat with his wife Savitribai Phule and educated her when she went to the farms where he worked to bring him his meal He sent his wife to get trained at a school The husband and wife set up India s first girls school in Vishrambag Wada Pune in 1848 30 He championed widow remarriage and started a home for dominant caste pregnant widows to give birth in a safe and secure place in 1863 31 His orphanage was established in an attempt to reduce the rate of infanticide 32 In 1863 Pune witnessed a horrific incident A Brahmin widow named Kashibai got pregnant and her attempts at abortion didn t succeed She killed the baby after giving it birth and threw it in a well but her act came to light She had to face punishment and was sentenced to jail This incident greatly upset Phule and hence along with his longtime friend Sadashiv Ballal Govande and Savitribai he started an infanticide prevention centre Pamphlets were stuck around Pune advertising the centre in the following words Widows come here and deliver your baby safely and secretly It is up to your discretion whether you want to keep the baby in the centre or take it with you This orphanage will take care of the children left behind The Phule couple ran the infanticide prevention centre until the mid 1880s 32 Phule tried to eliminate the stigma of social untouchability surrounding the exploited castes by opening his house and the use of his water well to the members of the exploited castes 33 Views on religion and caste Edit Phule appealed for restablishment of the reign of mythical Mahabali King Bali which predated Aryans treacherous coup d etat 34 He proposed his own version of Aryan invasion theory that the Aryan conquerors of India whom the theory s proponents considered to be racially superior were in fact barbaric suppressors of the indigenous people He believed that they had instituted the caste system as a framework for subjugation and social division that ensured the pre eminence of their Brahmin successors He saw the subsequent Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent as more of the same sort of thing being a repressive alien regime but took heart in the arrival of the British whom he considered to be relatively enlightened and not supportive of the varnashramadharma system instigated and then perpetuated by those previous invaders 35 c In his book Gulamgiri he thanked Christian missionaries and the British colonists for making the exploited castes realise that they are worthy of all human rights 37 The book whose title transliterates as slavery and which concerned women caste and reform was dedicated to the people in the US who were working to end slavery 38 better source needed Phule saw Vishnu s avatars as a symbol of oppression stemming from the Aryan conquests and took Mahabali Bali Raja as hero 39 His critique of the caste system began with an attack on the Vedas the most fundamental texts of Hindus 40 He considered them to be a form of false consciousness 41 He is credited with introducing the Marathi word dalit broken crushed as a descriptor for those people who were outside the traditional varna system 42 At an education commission hearing in 1882 Phule called for help in providing education for lower castes 43 To implement it he advocated making primary education compulsory in villages He also asked for special incentives to get more lower caste people in high schools and colleges 44 Satyashodhak Samaj Edit On 24 September 1874 Phule formed Satyashodhak Samaj to focus on rights of depressed groups such women the Shudra and the Dalit 31 45 46 Through this samaj he opposed idolatry and denounced the caste system Satyashodhak Samaj campaigned for the spread of rational thinking and rejected the need for priests Phule established Satyashodhak Samaj with the ideals of human well being happiness unity equality and easy religious principles and rituals 46 A Pune based newspaper Deenbandhu provided the voice for the views of the Samaj 47 The membership of the samaj included Muslims Brahmins and government officials Phule s own Mali caste provided the leading members and financial supporters for the organization 45 Occupation Edit Statues of Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule at Aurangabad in Maharashtra Apart from his role as a social activist Phule was a businessman too In 1882 he styled himself as a merchant cultivator and municipal contractor 48 He owned 60 acres 24 ha of farmland at Manjri near Pune 49 For period of time he worked as a contractor for the government and supplied building materials required for the construction of a dam on the Mula Mutha river near Pune in the 1870s 50 He also received contracts to provide labour for the construction of the Katraj Tunnel and the Yerawda Jail near Pune 51 One of Phule s businesses established in 1863 was to supply metal casting equipment 31 Phule was appointed commissioner municipal council member to the then Poona municipality in 1876 and served in this unelected position until 1883 52 Published works EditPhule s akhandas were organically linked to the abhangs of Marathi Varkari saint Tukaram 53 Among his notable published works are Tritiya Ratna 1855 Brahmananche Kasab 1869 Powada Chatrapati Shivajiraje Bhosle Yancha English Life Of Shivaji In Poetical Metre June 1869 Powada Vidyakhatyatil Brahman Pantoji June 1869 Manav Mahammand Muhammad Abhang Gulamgiri 1873 Shetkarayacha Aasud Cultivator s Whipcord July 1881 Satsar Ank 1 June 1885 Satsar Ank 2 June 1885 Ishara October 1885 Gramjoshya sambhandi jahir kabhar 1886 Satyashodhak Samajokt Mangalashtakasah Sarva Puja vidhi 1887 Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Poostak April 1889 Sarvajanic Satya Dharmapustak 1891 Akhandadi Kavyarachana Asprushyanchi KaifiyatLegacy Edit The Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee unveiled the statue of Jyotirao Phule at Parliament House in New Delhi on 3 December 2003 A statue of Jyotiba Phule in the town of Karad Satara district According to Dhananjay Keer Phule was bestowed with the title of Mahatma on 11 May 1888 by another social reformer from Bombay Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar 8 Indian Postal Department issued a postage stamp in year 1977 in the honour of Phule An early biography of Phule was the Marathi language Mahatma Jotirao Phule Yanche Charitra P S Patil Chikali 1927 54 Two others are Mahatma Phule Caritra Va Kriya Mahatma Phule Life and Work A K Ghorpade Poona 1953 which is also in Marathi and Mahatma Jyotibha Phule Father of Our Social Revolution Dhananjay Keer Bombay 1974 Unpublished material relating to him is held by the Bombay State Committee on the History of the Freedom Movement 55 Phule s work inspired B R Ambedkar the first minister of law of India and the chief of Indian constitution s drafting committee Ambedkar had acknowledged Phule as one of his three gurus or masters 56 57 58 There are many structures and places commemorating Phule These include The full length statue inaugurated at the premises of Vidhan Bhavan Assembly Building of Maharashtra State citation needed Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai formerly known as Crawford Market in Mumbai Mahatma Phule Museum in Pune Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth Agricultural University in Rahuri Ahmednagar District Maharashtra Mahathma Phule Mandai the biggest vegetable market in Pune Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University Subharti College of Physiotherapy was formerly named after him In popular culture Edit G P Deshpande s biographical play Satyashodhak The Truth Seeker was first performed by Jan Natya Manch in 1992 59 Mahatma Phule 1954 an Indian Marathi language biographical film about the social reformer was directed Pralhad Keshav Atre Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule an Indian drama television series based on Savitribai Phule s and Jyotiba Phule s life was aired on DD National in 2016 Savitri Jyoti an Marathi drama television series based on the life and work of Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule was aired on Sony Marathi in 2019 2020 60 61 Savitribai Phule an Indian Kannada language biopic was made about Phule in 2018 62 References EditNotes The Scottish Mission school was operated by the Free Church of Scotland and educated pupils from a wide range of castes 19 The American missionary Cynthia Farrar had started a girls school in Bombay in In 1847 the Students literary and scientific society started the Kamalabai high school for girls in the Girgaon neighborhood of Bombay The school is still operational in 2016 Peary Charan Sarkar started a school for girls called Kalikrishna Girls High School in the Bengali town of Barasat in 1847 The Parsi community Mumbai had also established a school for girls in 1847 Varnashramadharma has been described by Dietmar Rothermund as the Indian societal system that regulates the duty dharma of every man according to his caste varna and age grade ashrama 36 Citations a b c d e f g Archived copy Archived from the original on 3 January 2022 Retrieved 3 January 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link The Polemics of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule on His Birth Anniversary 28 November 2016 Remembering Jyotirao Phule The Pioneer Of Girls Education In India NDTV com Retrieved 18 December 2020 Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Reformer far ahead of his time Hindustan Times 27 June 2019 Retrieved 18 December 2020 a b Remembering the pioneer of women s education in India Contributions by Jyotirao Phule India Today Retrieved 18 December 2020 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Savitribai Phule The pioneer of women s education in India The Week Retrieved 18 December 2020 Jill Sperandio 11 December 2018 Pioneering Education for Girls across the Globe Advocates and Entrepreneurs 1742 1910 Rowman amp Littlefield p 35 ISBN 978 1 4985 2488 9 a b Keer 1974 p 247 Who was Jyotirao Phule The Indian Express 28 November 2017 Retrieved 18 December 2020 ज त ब फ ल मह त म कस बनल BBC News मर ठ in Marathi Retrieved 28 November 2021 O Hanlon 2002 pp 3 105 106 a b c d O Hanlon 2002 pp 105 106 Jadhav M H 1986 Anti Caste Movement in Maharashtra Economic and Political Weekly 21 17 740 742 JSTOR 4375602 Brown Kevin D 2018 African American Perspectives on Common Struggles In Yengde Suraj Teltumbde Anand eds The Radical in Ambedkar Penguin Books pp 45 54 ISBN 9789353053130 a b स म ज क व श क षण क क र त च जनक मह त म ज त ब फ ल Sakal www esakal com Retrieved 3 January 2022 a b c d e f g Keer 1974 pp 1 3 Rowena Robinson Joseph Marianus Kujur 17 August 2010 Margins of Faith Dalit and Tribal Christianity in India SAGE Publishing India ISBN 978 93 86042 93 4 O Hanlon 2002 p 110 O Hanlon 2002 p 105 Phule Jotirao 1991 Selections Collected Works of Mahatma Jotirao Phule Vol II Mumbai Government of Maharashtra pp xv permanent dead link Phule Jotirao 1991 Selections Collected Works of Mahatma Jotirao Phule Vol II Mumbai Government of Maharashtra pp xvi permanent dead link The Satya Shodhak https thesatyashodhak com cynthia farrar missionary woman who inspired jotirao phule amp ved 2ahUKEwiaqJmGw9D9AhX TmwGHVo AaEQFnoECAwQAQ amp usg AOvVaw1FVk2f3aZNrtcQMecqvZ59 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty title help CS1 maint url status link American Marathi mission Sakal a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link O Hanlon 2002 pp 110 113 O Hanlon 2002 p 118 स व त र ब ई स त र म क त च य आद य प रण त य Maharashtra Times in Marathi Retrieved 3 January 2022 Mohan Siddhant 7 April 2017 Remembering Fatima Sheikh the first Muslim teacher who laid the foundation of Dalit Muslim unity Two Circles Sabyasachi Bhattacharya 2002 Education and the Disprivileged Nineteenth and Twentieth Century India Orient Blackswan pp 35 37 ISBN 978 81 250 2192 6 Bhattacharya Sabyasachi Zelliot Eleanor author 2002 Education and the disprivileged nineteenth and twentieth century India 1 publ ed Hyderabad Orient Longman pp 35 37 ISBN 9788125021926 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a first2 has generic name help How Savitribai Phule India s first female teacher dealt with abusers hell bent on preventing her from educating girls India Today a b c O Hanlon 2002 p 135 a b Figueira 2012 p 147 ANI 11 April 2017 PM Modi pays tributes to Mahatma Phule on his birth anniversary Business Standard India Retrieved 5 April 2020 Figueira 2012 p 148 Figueira 2012 pp 143 157 Rothermund Dietmar 1968 Emancipation or Re integration In Low D A ed Soundings in Modern South Asian History Weidenfeld amp Nicolson p 132 Doctor Adi H 1994 Missionary Teachings and Social Reformers in 19th Century India In de Souza Teotonio R ed Discoveries Missionary Expansion and Asian Cultures Concept Publishing pp 110 111 ISBN 978 8 17022 497 6 Foole Mahatma Jyotirao 2007 Gulamgiri in Hindi Gautam Book Center p 7 ISBN 978 8 18773 373 7 Omvedt Gail 2011 Understanding Caste From Buddha to Ambedkar and Beyond Orient Blackswan p 62 ISBN 978 81 250 4175 7 O Hanlon 2002 p 147 149 Figueira 2012 p 149 Nisar M Kandasamy Meena 2007 Ayyankali Dalit Leader of Organic Protest Other Books p 8 ISBN 978 8 19038 876 4 Human Rights and Budgets in India Socio Legal Information Cent 2009 pp 70 ISBN 978 81 89479 58 9 Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Reformer Far Ahead of his Time Hindustan Times 4 September 2019 Retrieved 5 April 2020 a b Bhadru G 2002 Contribution of Shatyashodhak Samaj to the Low Caste Protest Movement in 19th Century Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 63 845 854 JSTOR 44158153 a b Life amp Work of Mahatma Jotira University of Pune Archived from the original on 11 March 2009 Charlesworth Neil 2002 Peasants and Imperial Rule Agriculture and Agrarian Society in the Bombay Presidency 1850 1935 Revised ed Cambridge University Press p 277 ISBN 978 0 52152 640 1 Keer 1974 p 172 Gavaskar Mahesh 1999 Phule s critique of Brahmin power In Michael S M ed Untouchable Dalits in Modern India Boulder Colorado Lynne Rienner p 45 ISBN 978 155587 697 5 Kale Govind Ganapat 11 April 2020 Snapshots from Mahatma Jotirao Phule s life through the eyes of his close aide www thenewsminute com Retrieved 13 April 2020 Bhadru G 2002 Contribution of Shatyashodhak Samaj to the Low Caste Protest Movement in 19Th Century Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 63 845 854 JSTOR 44158153 Keer 1974 p 143 Thakkar Usha Editor Kamala Ganesh Kamala Editor Bhagwat Vidyut Author 2005 Culture and the making of identity in contemporary India New Delhi Sage Publications p 169 ISBN 9780761933816 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a first1 has generic name help O Hanlon 1992 p 107 Sarkar 1975 pp 32 33 40 Teltumbde Anand Yengde Suraj 2 November 2018 The Radical in Ambedkar Critical Reflections Penguin Random House India Private Limited ISBN 9789353053130 Retrieved 24 April 2019 via Google Books The Greatness of Mahatma Jotiba Phule 11 April 2015 Retrieved 24 April 2019 म र ज वन त न ग र ओ और त न उप स य स बन ह ब ब स हब ड ब आर अम ब डकर Retrieved 24 April 2019 Life As Message Tehelka Magazine Vol 9 Issue 24 16 June 2012 स व त र ज त र व च य चर त र वर म ल क Loksatta in Marathi Retrieved 3 January 2022 TRP म ळत नसल य न स व त र ब ई फ ल वरच म ल क अख र ब द Maharashtra Times in Marathi Retrieved 3 January 2022 R Shilpa Sebastian 8 August 2018 Will it be a hat trick The Hindu ISSN 0971 751X Retrieved 23 January 2019 Bibliography Figueira Dorothy Matilda 2012 Aryans Jews Brahmins Theorizing Authority Through Myths of Identity SUNY Press ISBN 978 0 79148 783 9 Keer Dhananjay 1974 Mahatma Jotirao Phooley Father of the Indian Social Revolution Mumbai India Popular Prakashan ISBN 978 81 7154 066 2 O Hanlon Rosalind 1992 Issues of Widowhood in Colonial Western India in Haynes Douglas E Prakash Gyan eds Contesting Power Resistance and Everyday Social Relations in South Asia University of California Press ISBN 978 0 52007 585 6 O Hanlon Rosalind 2002 1985 Caste Conflict and Ideology Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth Century Western India Revised ed Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 52152 308 0 Sarkar Sumit 1975 Bibliographical Survey of Social Reform Movements in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Motilal Banarsidass Indian Council of Historical ResearchFurther reading EditGavaskar Mahesh 1999 Phule s Critique of Brahmin Power In Michael S M ed Untouchable Dalits in Modern India Lynne Rienner Publishers pp 43 56 ISBN 978 1 55587 697 5 Guha Ramachandra ed 2011 Makers of Modern India Harvard University Press ISBN 978 0 67405 246 8 Wayne Tiffany K ed 2011 Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World A Global Sourcebook and History ABC CLIO ISBN 978 0 31334 581 4 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jyotirao Phule Portals India History Education Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jyotirao Phule amp oldid 1149265576, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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