Sunita Bangotra
Savitribai Phule may not be as famous as Mahatma Gandhi or Swami Vivekananda but her impact on the liberation of the Indian women has been no less significant. One of the earliest crusaders of education for girls, and dignity for the most vulnerable sections of society – dalits, women and widows, Savitribai broke all the traditional shackles of 19th century India under the British rule to bring in the new age of thinking. She can be legitimately hailed as the mother of Indian Feminism and Modern Girls’ Education.
Savitribai was born on 3rd January, 1831, in Naigaon of Satara district in Maharashtra. Child marriage was a common practice in those days and she was married at the age of nine to Jyotirao Phule, who himself was all of 13 at the time. Even at such young age Jyotiroa saw her passion to study and learn, so he started teaching her to read and write at home. Little did he know he was laying the foundation of modern education in India.
In times when women were treated no better than cattle, Savitribai was firm in her resolve to educate herself. Soon she made it her life’s mission to educate and liberate women in India from the male-dominant regressive patterns of the society. On January 14th, 1848, in Bhide Wada, Pune, Jyotirao started a school for girls and Savitribai started teaching in this school earning her the title of the first woman teacher of India. She was the first Indian to place universal and socially reforming education for all children in India at the core of her agenda.
For generations education was thought as the birth right of only Brahmins, children from other castes were denied the right to an education. However, in their school, children from all castes were invited to receive education. Eight girls, belonging to different castes, enrolled as students on the first day.
However, teaching by a woman was not an easy task then because education for girls was considered as a sin. Savitribai was subjected to intense harassment everyday as she walked to the school. A group of men would follow her, and stones, mud and dirt were flung at her as she passed. But she was undeterred by all the opposition she faced from the society. She started carrying an extra saari with her to wear at school. She opened another school for adults the same year as her husband opened the school for girls. The number of girls increased to seventy during 1849-50. By 1951, she was running three schools with around 150 girl students.
This couple kindled by passion for their goal did not stop their work of educating girls from all sections of society. She innovated many new ways of teaching like telling short stories to make learning more interesting, taking sport sessions, reciting her own-made poems in front of girls. Her first collection of poems, Kavya Phule, was published in 1854 stressing the necessity of English and Education. Looking at her passion for education, people started sending their girls to schools themselves. Thus, it could be seen that Education for her was not merely alphabetical learning but a means of igniting the minds of women and others. Today, government programmes like the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’, the Right to Education Act and the midday meal scheme that incentivize education, may seem like modern concepts, but even 150 years back Savitribai had set a precedent – she gave stipends to prevent children from dropping out of school. She was the teacher who inspired a young student to ask for a library for the school at an award ceremony instead of gifts for herself. She even conducted the equivalent of a parent-teacher meeting to involve the parents so they would understand the importance of education and support their children. Her schools imparted vocational training as well. Along with educating women, Savitribai also took on the responsibility for the health and well-being of young widows, another exploited group. During those days, widows, particularly the Brahmin widows were the easy targets for the males of the society in terms of sexual exploitation. Many women were driven to commit suicide by men who had exploited them to satisfy their lust and then deserted them. Most of the time, they happened to be pregnant due to lack of contraceptives or other measures. Saddened by this, Phule couple immediately started a shelter home-Balhatyapratibadhakgriha for such Brahmin widows in their own house. They put up advertisements all over the city and at places of pilgrimage announcing it as a “way to avoid Kalepani (life imprisonment in the Andamans)” and thus, the information about the shelter home spread. By 1873,66 Brahmin widows had come to this shelter home from different places. They also adopted a child of a Brahman widow Kashibai who later grew up to continue the work started by them.
She realized that the plight and worse condition of women is due to patriarchal values and mindset of the people. Thus, women should be organized in a manner that one should feel the power of collectiveness and could fight against the atrocities done to her in the society. It was due to her efforts that a Mahila Mandal was formed in Pune in 1852.This Mahila Mandal started working for the empowerment and liberty of the women by fighting against the prevalent social evils.
Savitribai broke yet another taboo when she led the funeral procession of her husband. Even today, the Hindu last rites are considered to be the sacred privilege of men alone. When Jyotiba passed away in 1890, warring relatives tried to wrest the rights of performing the last rites away from Yeshwant, their adopted son, faulting his parentage. Savitribai took the ‘titve’, or the funeral mud-pot, herself and led the procession.
Even the fear of death did not deter this brave woman from doing what she felt was right. In 1897, when the plague hit Pune, she was at the forefront. She even carried young Pandurang Babaji Gaikwad, a 10-year-old boy, from Mundhwa to the clinic strapped to her back. Ironically, he beat the infection but Savitribai caught it and in March 1897, she breathed her last.
Every educated woman in India today owes a debt to Savitribai Phule for fighting for their rights. Let her 189th birthday be a reminder that her legacy needs to carried forward by the generations to follow.
