Savitribai Phule

Why in news?
Commemorating the 186th birth anniversary of social reformer and poet Savitribai Phule, Google has dedicated a special doodle on the day.

Who is Savitribai Phule?

• Savitribai Phule was the wife of Jyotirao Phule, an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.
• She was determined to study and was one of the very few indigenous literate women in her era.
• Savitribai, along with her husband Jyotirao Phule, stood up for the rights of women and fought against the injustice faced by them.
• They were the pioneers of women education in India and started the first girls’ school in 1848 in Pune.
• Their work extended to many fields including 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, dignity of life and other social issues.
• 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 the 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 to Savitribai Phule Pune University in 2014.
• The Government of Maharashtra has instituted an award in her name to recognize women social reformers.

Legacy of Jyotirao Phule:

• He opened the first native library for low-caste students.
• In 1854, Jyotirao joined the Scottish Mission School as a teacher.
• He was against Sati and child marriages. He was in favor of Western education and demanded free and compulsory primary education—up to the age of 12.
• He advocated technical education for the lower classes.
• He always agitated for better living conditions for the workers in the mills in Bombay as well as for the farmers, a majority of whom were untouchables.
• Phule was bestowed with the title of Mahatma on 11 May 1888 by another social reformer from Bombay, Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar.
• His Published works include Tritiya Ratna (1855), Gulamgiri (1873), Ishara (1885).

Category: Prelims & Mains | GS - I | Indian History