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Jyotirao Phule

Topics Covered: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.

Jyotirao Phule:

Context:

He was born on April 11, 1827, and his birth anniversary is celebrated as Jyotiba Phule Jayanti every year.

About Jyotirao Phule:

  • Born in 1827 in Satara district of Maharashtra.
  • Phule was given the title of Mahatma on May 11, 1888, by Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar, a Maharashtrian social activist.

Social reforms and key contributions:

  1. His work is related mainly to eradication of untouchability and caste system, emancipation and empowerment of women, reform of Hindu family life.
  2. Along with his wife, Savitribai Phule, he is regarded as pioneers of women’s education in India.
  3. The couples were the first native Indians to open the first indigenously-run school for girls in India in August 1848 at Pune in Maharashtra.
  4. Later, the Phules started schools for children from the then untouchable castes such as Mahar and Mang.
  5. In 1863, he opened a home for pregnant Brahmin widows to give birth in a safe and secure place.
  6. He opened an orphanage home to avoid infanticide. In this regard, he is believed to be the first Hindu to start an orphanage for the unfortunate children.
  7. In 1868, Jyotirao decided to construct a common bathing tank outside his house to exhibit his embracing attitude towards all human beings and wished to dine with everyone, regardless of their caste.
  8. In 1873, Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj, or the Society of Seekers of Truth, for the rights of depressed classes, to denounce the caste system and to spread rational thinking.

His famous works:

Tritiya Ratna (1855), Gulamgiri (1873), Shetkarayacha Aasud, or Cultivator’s Whipcord (1881), Satyashodhak Samajokt Mangalashtakasah Sarva Puja-vidhi (1887).

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

  1. Important literary works of Mahatma Phule.
  2. Who gave him the title Phule?
  3. Objectives of Satyashodhak Samaj.
  4. Which state has launched a scheme on Jyotirao Phule and what is it related to?
  5. Notable contributions of Savitribai Phule.

Sources: PIB.