Saturday 28 November 2015

11th APR 1827 - 28th NOV 1890 MAHATMA JYOTIRAO PHULE

Jyotirao Phule

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Jyotirao Govindrao Phule
Mphule.jpg
Born11 April 1827
Katgun, Satara, British India(present-day Maharashtra, India)
Died28 November 1890 (aged 63)
Pune, British India (present-day Maharashtra,India)
Other namesMahatma Phule. Jyotiba Phule / Jyotirao Phule
ReligionSatyashodhak Samaj, Deist
Spouse(s)Savitribai Phule
Era19th century philosophy
Main interests
Ethics, religion, humanism
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule[a] (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890) was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer, writer and theologist from Maharashtra. He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women's education in India. His work extended to many fields including education, agriculture, caste system, women and widow upliftment and removal of untouchability. He is most known for his efforts to educate women and the lower castes as well as the masses. After educating his wife, he opened the first school for girls in India in August 1848.
In September 1873, Phule, along with his followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) to attain equal rights for peasants and people from lower castes. Phule is regarded as an important figure of the Social Reform Movement in Maharashtra.

Early life[edit]

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was born in the Satara district of Maharashtra to a family of the Mali caste. His father, Govindrao, was a vegetable vendor. Originally Phule's family, who used the last name Gorhay, came fromKatgun, a village in Khatav taluka, Satara District. His grandfather Shetiba Gorhay settled down in Pune. Since Phule's father and two uncles served as florists under the last of the Peshwas, they came to be known as 'Phules'.[1]
His mother died when he was nine months old. After completing his primary education Phule had to leave school and help his father by working on the family's farm. He was married at the age of 12. His intelligence was recognised by Muslim and Christian neighbours, who persuaded his father to allow Phule to attend the local Scottish Mission's High School, which he completed in 1847. The turning point in his life was in 1848, when he was insulted by family members of his Brahmin friend, a bridegroom, for his participation in a marriage procession. Jotiba was suddenly facing the divide created by the caste system. Influenced by Thomas Paine's bookRights of Man (1791), Phule developed a keen sense of social justice. He argued that education of women and the "lower castes" was a vital priority in addressing social inequalities.[citation needed]

Social activism[edit]

Phule believed in overthrowing the social system in which people had been deliberately made dependent on others, illiterate, ignorant and poor, with a view to exploiting them. To him blind faith eradication formed part of a broad socioeconomic transformation. This was his strategy for ending exploitation of human beings. Mere advice, education and alternative ways of living are not enough, unless the economic framework of exploitation comes to an end.[citation needed]
To this end, Jyotirao and his wife, Savitribai Phule, started the first school for girls in India in 1848, for which he was forced to leave his parental home. He championed widow remarriage and started a home for 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.

Views on religion and caste[edit]

The Indian society at Jyotiba's time was deeply enmeshed in caste politics.[citation needed] His akhandas were based on the abhangs of Indian saint Tukaram[2] (a Moray Shudra.) He did not like caste-based discrimination. He saw using Rama as a symbol of oppression stemming from the Aryan conquest.[3]
Phule's critique of the caste system began with his attack on the Vedas, the most fundamental texts of upper caste Hindus.[citation needed] He considered them to be idle fantasies and palpably absurd legends[citation needed] as well as a form of false consciousness.[4]
He is credited with introducing the Marathi word dalit (broken, crushed) as a descriptor for those people who were outside the traditional varna system. The terminology was later popularised in the 1970s by the Dalit Panthers.[5]

Satyashodhak Samaj[edit]

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On 24 September 1873, Phule formed Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth), of which he was the first president and treasurer, to focus on rights of depressed classes. He opposed idolatry and denounced the caste system. Satyashodhak Samaj campaigned for the spread of rational thinking and rejected the need for a priests. Savitribai became the head of the women's section which included ninety female members[citation needed]. She worked as a school teacher for girls. After Phule's death in 1890 his followers continued the Samaj campaign to the remotest parts of Maharashtra.[citation needed]. 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.[citation needed].

Occupation[edit]

Apart from his role as a social activist, Phule was a businessman too. In 1882 memorial, he styled himself as Merchant, cultivator and Municipal Contractor.[6]
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[7] near Pune in the 1870s.[citation needed] One of Phule's businesses, established in 1863, was to supply metal-casting equipment.[8]
Phule was appointed Commissioner ( Municipal Council Member) to the then Poona municipality in 1876 and served in this unelected position until 1882.[9]

Recognition[edit]

According to Keer,[10] 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[edit]

Among Phule's notable published works are:[11]
  • 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

Commemoration[edit]

An early biography of Phule was the Marathi-language Mahatma Jotirao Phule, yance charitra (P. S. Patil, Chikali: 1927).[12] Two others are Mahatma Phule. Caritra Va Kariya (Mahatma Phule. Life and Work) (A. K. Ghorpade, Poona: 1953), which is also in Marathi, and Mahatma Jyotibha Phooley: Father of Our Social Revolution (Dhananjay Keer, Bombay: 1974). Unpublished material relating to him is held by the Bombay State Committee on the History of the Freedom Movement.[13]
There are many structures and places commemorating Phule. These include:

See also[edit]

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        Jyotirao Phule
        Activist
        Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer, writer and theologist from Maharashtra. He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women's education in India. Wikipedia
        Born: April 11, 1827, Satara
        Died: November 28, 1890, Pune
        Spouse: Savitribai Phule (m. 1840–1890)
        Books: Selected Writings of Jotirao Phule, Shetkaryaca Asud, Slavery
        Influenced by: Gautama Buddha, Tukaram, Kabir, Abraham Lincoln,Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine
        Organizations founded: Satyashodhak Samaj
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