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Extraordinary Life Of Savitribai Phule
Today we celebrate the birth of Savitribai Phule, the first woman teacher in India who revolutionized the Dalit-Bahujan masses all over the country. Savitribai was born on 3 January 1831 in district Satara of Maharastra. Her father Khandoji Navse Patil was an elderly village head. She, at the age of nine, got married to Jyotiba Phule who was just thirteen at the time of their marriage in 1840. Both of them had concerned parents who were respected in the community, but who nonetheless could not even think that it was important to impart education to their daughter. Maybe those days, it was important to get your daughter married at the ‘right age’ even when she was not educated. Of course, there were not many schools and it was not possible for the Dalit backward community people to get education where untouchability and caste system was too much prevalent. Her husband Jyotiba was a social revolutionary who had seen the treatment meted out to the lower caste people and farmers. He had faced lot of humiliation because he belonged to Mali caste but he knew that the fight against injustice could not be won unless people were educated and got rid of superstitions and blind beliefs. The condition of women in our society was more pitiable back then. While the upper-caste women were confined to their families, the illiteracy was highest among the poor backward community women. Phule knew well that without a strongly committed partner it would be difficult for him to spread his message. He might also have realized that if Savitribai remained at home illiterate and uneducated, confined to only domestic work, it would make his tall claims to liberate women hollow. He knew that the village women would associate with Savitribai more than him and therefore he decided to educate her. One thing we can learn from Phule is that age old practices cannot be eliminated in a day or two. It is a process and we need to initiate it. Phule advocated English education that time because he knew that the same had opened door for the upper castes and they acquired power and position during the British government and therefore it was important for the Bahujan masses also to get English education and that was the only reason that he fully endorsed Christian missionary schools and lauded their services as he knew that the normal government schools would never admit lower-caste people. The ideas that she developed with Jyotiba finally helped them open their first school for the backward community children on 1 May 1847 but because of ignorance and deeply-traditional pattern of society, the Phule couple had to face a lot of resistance and opposition not only from the upper-caste feudal people but from within the community that was in the grip of orthodoxy and conservatism. It was, therefore, important for Jyotiba to get Savitribai educated first and to develop her as an ideal teacher who could not only teach elementary education but also about rights of women and how they could ensure a dignified space in the society. So, she was sent for training to a school and they finally started their first school for girls on 1 January 1848 at a place called Bhide Wada in Pune. It needs to be noted that Phule was the first person who talked about Bahujan and he absolutely secularized the movement by engaging in reform people not only with in his own community but Muslims, particularly women like Fatima Sheikh, who he promoted for a teacher’s job. They don’t make such revolutionary ideal people anymore – those who not only start from their home first but also initiate steps to bring other communities into the mainstream of change. The Phule couple embraced every one and narrow confines of castes never really attracted them even when both of them were oppressed and saw caste discrimination. They promoted and encouraged girls from various castes and communities and in their school nine girls belonging to different castes had enrolled themselves as students. The movement for women’s education grew up in the entire region and the couple had established five more schools by the year 1848. The British government acknowledged their work for promoting education among the women of the most marginalized communities and honored Savitri Bai Phule. Both Jyotiba and Savitribai were deeply concerned about the plight of widows in our society and initiated several corrective processes. They started home for young widows and worked against the cruel practice of Sati. It was a revolutionary work as gender prejudices were deeply internalized within the Dalit-Bahujan communities too. Though both of them hailed from backward community yet their personal water resources were always opened for the Dalits who did not have access to them elsewhere. The most important work which jolted the orthodoxy was their unquestioned support to pregnant widows. They gave hope to those who lost their future in early age and knew well that child marriages resulted in child widowhood too. Phule couple’s courageous efforts to fight against all such issues helped people a lot, particularly women who would prefer to die than live a life in humiliation and isolation after widowhood. Phule realized that the Brahmins have befooled the poor in the name of God and hence warned his people not to fall prey to their tactics. He formed Satya Shodhak Samaj, a society which worked for achieving the truth. Savitribai Phule nurtured the legacy of her husband with great passion and conviction. Today when we all are speaking about women’s right, it is time we remember Savitribai Phule and her struggle. When we talk about men in our society, let us remember Jyotiba Phule and how he got his companion educated. All those who confine themselves in narrow vision must learn from the struggle of the Phule couple. They did not confine themselves to mere rhetoric of anti-Brahminism but created an alternative which was called Satya Shodhak Samaj. In the absence of an alternative, we will not be able to build a society. Phule never depended on the government to do things but he started work and reforms. He was modernist to the core and hence promoted idea of modern scientific humanist education. Savitribai Phule was a revolutionary and became victim of India’s corrupt and dishonest casteist intellectual elite that tried to hide her achievements and struggle. The amount of work that both did deserves a better mention in our text books in the colleges and Universities. Alas, our youngsters don’t even know these struggles and then are unable to fight against the injustices which are a product of the corrupted social order which is anti-woman. The birthday of a revolutionary needs to be celebrated and cannot be observed in the negative sense. Today, we hold our head high and bow to her struggle for dignity and self-respect among women and the marginalized. We must uphold the values she stood for as a model of how youngsters can change the society. Today, all those who ask the government to change from Jantar mantar refuse to change themselves. Change has to come from within. Phule started the change from within and educated Savitribai first. Both of them went to the people, stood up against all odds and got brickbats and yet stood strong. For social activists they are remarkable idols of truthfulness and conviction. Indians need to learn a lot from the Phule couple. For Indian men, Jyotiba is the real change maker who started charity from home standing with his wife against all odds and for Indian women, the battle must be learnt from Savitribai since the battle for women’s dignity cannot come from hating men but changing the social system. Can anybody imagine today that a woman would light the pyre of her husband in the 19 century which is not possible even today? Savitribai performed the last rite of Jyotiba Phule as a true comrade of social chnage. The Phule couple had realized the crookedness of the priestly class about defining our duties and subjugating women. Jyotiba emphasized on education which could liberate people from ignorance and superstition. That is why he focused on the emancipation of women and both he and his wife never thought that they could do it with ‘plain’ ‘sloganeering’ and ‘jargons’ but with providing alternative mode of action and thoughts. This is a great lesson for all of us that rather than thinking others to change, it is time we initiate the process with in ourselves and start our own work; after all charity should begin at home first. Let us strengthen the Satyashodhak movement by Jotiba Phule to realize his dream of an enlightened India free from the bondage of caste system and where women enjoy fullest freedom of their choice. Let us salute Savitribai Phule for her remarkable work which has inspired millions of people world over.
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