SAVITRIBAI PHULE
1. Context
Recently, The Prime Minister paid homage to Savitribai Phule on her birth anniversary.
2. Savitribai Phule (Kavya Phule, 1854)
- A Dalit woman from the Mali community, Savitribai was born on January 3, 1831, in Maharashtra’s Naigaon village.
- Married off at the tender age of 10, her husband Jyotirao Phule is said to have educated her at home. Later, Jyotirao admitted Savitribai to a teachers’ training institution in Pune.
- Throughout their life, the couple supported each other and in doing so, broke many social barriers.
- At a time when it was considered unacceptable for women to even attain education, the couple went on to open a school for girls in Bhidewada, Pune, in 1848.
- This became the country’s first girls’ school.
- A pioneer who challenged oppressive social norms in her quest for women’s education, equality, and justice, Savitribai Phule is formally recognized as India’s first woman teacher. The above poem titled Go, Get Education, is among the many Phule wrote to make a clarion call to the downtrodden to pursue education, and break free from the shackles of the caste system.
3. Phule’s role as a social reformer
- Phule’s work extended to many fields including the eradication of untouchability and the caste system, women's emancipation, and the reform of Hindu family life.
- Savitribai Phule started Mahila Seva Mandal in 1852, which worked for raising women’s consciousness about their human rights, the dignity of life, and other social issues.
- The first ever infanticide prohibition home of India was started by Savitribai Phule in 1853.
- They championed widow remarriage and started a home for lower and upper-caste widows in 1854.
- In September 1873, Phule, along with their followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) to attain equal rights for peasants and people from lower castes.
- Savitribai Phule was the first Dalit woman, in fact, the first woman whose poems got noticed in the British Empire.
- The prestigious University of Pune was renamed Savitribai Phule Pune University in 2014.
- The Government of Maharashtra has instituted an award in her name to recognize women social reformers.
4. Savitribai's Literary Works
- Savitribai Phule published her first Collection of poems, called Kavya Phule (Poetry's Blossoms), at the age of 23 in 1854.
- She published Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar (The Ocean of Pure Gems), in 1892.
- Besides these works, Matushri Savitribai Phlenchi Bhashane VA Gaani (Savitribai Phule's speeches and songs), and her letters to her husband have also been published.
For Prelims
| For Prelims: Savitribai Phule, Jyotirao Phule, Mahila Seva Mandal, Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth), Savitribai Phule Pune University, Kavya Phule (Poetry's Blossoms) and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar (The Ocean of Pure Gems). |
Source: The Indian Express
