THE life of Savitribai Phule and Jyotiba Phule is a saga of great sacrifice and courage. Born on January 3, 1831, in a peasant family, Savitribai was the first woman from Maharashtra who lit the flame of social revolution to change the oppressive thoughts and customs prevalent in the society. Her life had many dimensions and her work persists more than a century after her death on March 10, 1897, inspiring generations, of not just women but the dispossessed people of all genders, castes and communities.

To truly gauge the magnitude of Savitribai’s contributions, we need to understand the social conditions of her time. Phule’s lived in Pune, home of the most reactionary regime in India at the time. It was described as the ‘place of darkness’. The last Peshwa, Bajirao II was an extremely corrupt, incompetent and debauched ruler. East India Company deposed him in 1818, ending the Brahmin Peshwas' despotic rule, but the regressive social customs of the time persisted. Peasants were tortured if they failed to pay taxes, their children were subjected to bathing in boiling oil or made to stand on scorching hot plates.

The condition of the untouchables was worse than animals. They were made to tie a broom behind their back to wipe out their shadow (!) and hang an earthen pot around the neck to spit in so that they wouldn't 'pollute' the streets that the Brahmins walked on.

According to Manu, women were treated as a source of sin, considered stupid and not to be educated as education would lead them to sinful ways, they would become rude to men and would ruin the happiness of the family. Women were not fit for freedom.

The Phule’s challenged and fought all these orthodox and reactionary ideologies, in thought and action.

SAVITRIBAI’S CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION

The doors of education for Shudras (lower castes) and Atishudras (untouchables) were opened by the British government and missionaries in 1813. However, they faced stiff Brahminical opposition and did not succeed much. Jyotiba Phule decided to open a school for the ‘Mahars and Mangs’, the untouchable castes. The shudra women were the first to be educated. They were trained to teach and began teaching in the school for untouchables.

Turning their attention to women’s education, the Phule’s began the first girls’ school in India in 1848, in ‘Bhide Wada’, a Brahmin’s mansion in the citadel of the Brahmin community in Pune. Though only six girls enrolled their names, it was a significant beginning in the backdrop of the failure of the missionaries who had to close down the two schools that they had started in 1830 and 1833 due to stiff opposition of the orthodox forces.

BRAHMINICAL ATTACKS ON SAVITRIBAI

Savitribai started teaching in this school where more and more girls started attending, enraging the Brahmins. They could not digest the fact that knowledge was now open, not only to the lower castes but to women as well. This was a blow to the Manuwadi ideology. Savitribai was harassed on her way to school and back. She was subjected to verbal and physical abuse. Her opponents would throw stones and cow dung at her. But one of these could deter her from carrying on her revolutionary task.

When asked to leave their house, the revolutionary couple chose to depart and live in penury, than give up on their work. The destitute couple was given help and shelter by a Muslim friend, Usman Sheikh. His sister Fatima Sheikh, along with Jyotiba’s cousin, Saguna joined Savitribai to teach in their schools. From 1848 to 1852, the Phule’s started 16 schools in and around Pune for girls and lower caste children.

SHELTER AGAINST INFANTICIDE

Infanticide by Brahmin widows was common in Pune. Since widow remarriage was prohibited, many young widows fell prey to the men of the house, relatives or neighbours. Many of them ended their lives to avoid shame after becoming pregnant. Once Jyotiba saved a young pregnant Brahmin widow from committing suicide. Savitribai looked after her and she gave birth to a son. He was named Yashwant and was adopted by the Phule’s. The boy later became a doctor!

On January 28, 1853, Savitribai and Jyotiba founded a ‘House for Shelter against Infanticide’ to help such unfortunate women. Usman Sheikh offered his place for it. Phule pasted advertisements all over Pune asking “widows having unfortunately and in ignorance become pregnant to come secretly to their house and deliver their babies.” Such courage in face of a repressive society is rare even today. In early 19th century Maharashtra, nobody even dreamt of such revolutionary actions.

END OF REVOLUTIONARY LIVES

Jyotiba Phule patiently and untiringly educated the uneducated for 40 years. All his life, he challenged the existing structure based on economic exploitation, social oppression, the caste system and the subjugation of women.

In 1868, he threw open his private water tank for the untouchables who were deprived of drinking water in Pune.

He also raised his voice against the heavy taxes that were imposed by the British on the peasants.

A long famine struck the farming community from 1860, resulting in large scale migrations. Thousands died or were famished by hunger. The Phule’s scoured the drought-hit villages and in 1877 opened a shelter for the drought-hit peasants near Pune, where they fed and looked after more than 2,000 children.

Jyotiba’s seminal works like ‘Slavery’, ‘The Whipcord of the Peasant’, and Savitribai’s poems, are widely read and remain relevant even today. 

Jyotiba suffered a paralytic stroke in 1888 and breathed his last on November 28, 1890. Savitribai continued his great revolutionary legacy. She continued the work of the Satyashodhak Samaj founded by Jyotiba. In 1897, Pune witnessed an unprecedented plague epidemic. Phule's son Yashwant treated plague patients day and night. Savitribai joined his efforts but unfortunately, was struck by the deadly disease. She breathed her last on March 10, 1897.

Savitribai and Jyotiba had dedicated their lives to fighting for their ideal – equal rights for all human beings to live a life with dignity.

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Many social reformers in India have raised their voice against injustice heaped on the downtrodden and women. The path of struggle for these rights has always been full of thorns. Then or now, the orthodox sanatanis vehemently oppose the values of equality and justice. Stubbornly, they advocate the strengthening of the caste system, the subjugation of women, and the exploitation of the oppressed.

Even after centuries, these struggles continue. Today, we again face a tremendous challenge from the Manuwadi forces in power. They are leaving no stone unturned to divest the poor, especially the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women of their right to education, food, employment and a life of dignity. The economic and social policies of the BJP-RSS regime are a sure recipe for disaster in the lives of a large majority of Indians. The social fabric of the country is also getting damaged badly with increasing atrocities on women, dalits and adivasis. The very existence of a secular, democratic India is anathema to RSS, BJP and their parivar.

REMEMBERING SAVITRIBAI

The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) held numerous programmes all over the country on January 3, 2022, commemorating the life and work of Savitribai Phule. These programmes challenged the anti-women practices being propagated by the current, Manuwadi regime. The BJP and RSS leaders brazenly utter statements demeaning women without any fear of retribution. Glorification and revival of anti-women practices is rampantly going on. But AIDWA too, is consistently fighting against these regressive practices.  

Carrying Savitribai's legacy of struggle for building a progressive society forward, discussions were held in schools and slums in Bihar, seminars and joint programmes with professors, AIAWU and Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti were held in Haryana and numerous meetings, medical camps and discussions were held in Maharashtra. Over 500 adivasi women from Thane-Palghar districts gathered at Talasari for a lecture, after which the remarkable movie ‘Jai Bhim’ was screened. Some of the programmes in various states were held jointly with the Anganwadi Karmachari Union and the CITU. Thousands of women participated in the various programmes including online lectures that were held in hundreds of villages and bastis in many districts in Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

The LDF Kerala state government renamed the Kasaragod Asramam School as Savitribai Phule Memorial Asramam School. The school is run by the SC-ST department. A wide social media campaign popularising the struggles of Savitribai was also conducted in Kerala.