Jyotirao Govindrao Phule occupies a unique position among the social reformers of Maharashtra in the nineteenth century. While other reformers concentrated more on reforming the social institutions of family and marriage with special emphasis on the status and right of women, Jyotiba Phule revolted against the prevalent caste system under . During this period, number of social and political thinkers started movements aimed at upliftment of the status of women socially, economically, educationally and politically. Of these socio-political thinkers Mahatma Phule, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and such other organized movements for striving equality for marginalized castes, backward classes and women. As such, Mahatma Phule was an earliest leader, who strongly opposed gender inequality. He was of the view that every individual should search for the truth and reconstruct the subjective truth, only then the human society can become happy. He criticized the economic policy of the British rule in many respects as it was unfavorable to the poor peasants. He suggested a number of solutions to improve the conditions of the agriculture sector. In place of exploitative Indian social order, Phule wanted to establish a society founded on principle of equality.
Key Points
• Chhatrapti Shivaji was a source of inspiration for him. Phule wanted to establish a society founded on principles of equality and eradication of caste system.
• Phule was the first defender of human equality and rights. He had unflinching espousal of the rights of man which remained till the end of his life a major theme of his writings and a goal of his actions.
•He was First revolutionary and leader of downtrodens, peasants and supporter of women’s education a He paved the way for the new era of social activism. He established many institutions and tried to remove manmade inequality.
•Phule’s views and philosophy was based on his personal experiences and observation and in tune with imperialist cultural mission of British Raj. In that sense his philosophy was Reconstructionist and based on his reinterpretation of Indian social milieu. He was a source of inspiration for Maharshi Shinde, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Gadgebaba and Sahu Maharaj.
•He was a Founder of many movements – 1) Movement against discrimination Movement of women’s education. (4) Peasant’s movement (5) Movement against superstitions.
He was a prolific writer and authored several books to propagate his mission and vision. His writing was very aggressive.
He opened schools for girls and orphanages for widow women and their children.
Biography
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was born in Satara district of Maharastra on 11th April 1827. His father, Govindrao was a vegetable-vendor at Poona. Jyotirao’s family belonged to ‘mali’ caste and their original title was ‘Gorhay’. Malis were considered as an inferior caste and were shunned socially. Jyotirao’s father and uncles served as florists, so the family came to be known as `Phule’. Phule’s father, Govindrao, carried on the family business along with his brothers. His mother, Chimnabai, died when he was only nine months old, and he had one elder brother. The Mali community did not set much store by education, and after attending primary school to learn the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, Phule was withdrawn from school. He joined the menfolk of his family at work, both in the shop and the farm. Jyotirao was an intelligent boy but due to the poor financial condition at home, he had to stop his studies at an early age. He started helping his father by working on the family’s farm.
In 1841, Jyotirao got admission in the Scottish Mission’s High School, Poona, and completed his education in 1847. There, he met Sadashiv Ballal Govande, a Brahmin, who remained his close friend throughout his life. As per custom, he was married young, at the age of 13, to a girl of his own community, chosen by his father.
The turning point in his life was in 1848, when he attended the wedding of a friend, who was a Brahmin. Phule participated in the customary marriage procession, but was later rebuked and insulted by his friend’s parents for doing that. They told him that he being from a lower caste should have had the sense to keep away from that ceremony. This incident profoundly affected Phule on the injustice of the caste system. In the same year he also visited the first girls’ school in Ahmadnagar run by Christian missionaries. It was also in 1848 that Young Jyotiba read Thomas Paine’s book Rights of Man (1791), and developed a keen sense of social justice. He realized that “lower castes” and women were at a disadvantage in Indian society, and also that education of these sections was vital to their emancipation.
Social activism
Phule believed in transforming the social system in which people had been deliberately made dependent on others, illiterate, ignorant and poor, with a view to exploiting them. Mere advice, education and alternative ways of living are not enough, unless the economic framework of exploitation comes to an end. His most famous poem reads: “Lack of education leads to lack of wisdom, / Which leads to lack of morals, / Which leads to lack of progress, / Which leads to lack of money, / Which leads to the oppression of the lower classes, / See what state of the society one lack of education can cause!”
To this end, Jyotirao and his wife, Savitribai, started the first school for girls in India in 1848, for which he was forced to leave his parental home. Later he started schools for children from marginalized castes of Mahar and Mang.
He championed widow remarriage and started a home for lower and upper caste widows in 1854, as well as a home for new-born infants to prevent female infanticide. Phule tried to eliminate the stigma of social untouchability surrounding the lower castes by opening his house and the use of his water-well to the members of the lower castes.
Satyashodhak Samaj
On 24 September 1873, Phule formed Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of the seekers of truth), with which he was the first president and treasurer, to focus on rights of depressed classes. He denounced the caste system. Satyashodhak Samaj campaigned for the spread of rational thinking.
. After Phule’s death in 1890 his followers continued the Samaj campaign in the remote parts of Maharashtra.. Shahu Maharaj, the ruler of Kolhapur lent moral support to Satyashodhak Samaj. In its new incarnation, it continued the efforts to remove what it considered to be superstition.. Savitribai became the head of the women’s section which included ninety female members. She worked as a school teacher for girls.
Occupation
Apart from his role as a social activist, Phule was a businessman too. In 1882 memorial, he styled himself as a merchant, cultivator and Municipal Contractor.
Jyotirao owned 60 acres of farmland at Manjri near Pune. For period of time, he worked as a contractor for the government and supplied building materials required for the construction of the first masonry dam in India at Khadakwasla near Pune in the 1870s. One of Phule’s businesses, established in 1863, was to supply metal-casting equipment.
Phule was appointed Commissioner (Municipal Council Member) to the then Poona municipality in 1876 and served in this unelected position until 1883.
Recognition
Phule was bestowed with the title of Mahatma on 11 May 1888 by another social reformer from Bombay, Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar.
Phule has been commemorated numerous times in Maharashtra as well as other parts of India. Universities (such as in Jaipur), museums (Pune), vegetable markets (Pune, Mumbai) have been named after him.
Published works
Among Phule’s 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, October 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
Asprashyanchi Kaifiyat
Mahatma Phule
Death
Jyotiba suffered a stroke in 1888 and was rendered paralyzed. On 28 November, 1890, he, passed away.
References
Rajni Bala & Navjoti (2012) “Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule: A Forgotten Liberator” in
International Journal of Basic And Advanced Research, 2012; 1(2); 35
Equality: Contribution of Jyotiba Phule (1827-1890)” in Modern Indian Political Thought, p.27
Jyotirao Phule quoted in Sharanabasappa B. Ragi , Jyoti. S. Bamman (2011) , Mahatma Phule and Women’s Emancipation International Referred Research Journal,June,p.113.
Sharanabasappa. B. Ragi , Jyoti. S. Bamman (2011) , Mahatma Phule and Women’s Emancipation International Referred Research Journal,June,p.114.
Jyotirao Phule (1883) Shetkaryaca Asud translated by Gail Omvedt and Bharat Patankar http://www.ambedkar.org/gail/Phule.pdf
