We should know our true history: Jyotirao Phule: Jyotirao Govindrao PhuleBorn11 April 1827Katgun, 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 PhuleReligionSatyashodhak Samaj, Deist, HumanismEra19th century philosophyMain interestsEthics, religion, humanismInfluencesChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj · Tukaram · Thomas PaineInfluencedSocial Reform Movement in Maharashtra · Mahatma Gandhi · Shahu Maharaj · Nana Patil · Chhagan BhujbalMahatma 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 womens 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. He, after educating his wife, opened the first school for girls in India in August 1848.In September 1873, Jyotirao, along with his followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) with the main objective of liberating the Bahujans, Shudras and Ati-Shudras[clarification needed] and protecting them from exploitation and atrocities. For his fight to attain equal rights for peasants and the lower caste and his contributions to the field of education, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of the Social Reform Movement in Maharashtra. Dhananjay Keer, his biographer, notes him as the father of Indian social revolution. Jyotirao Phule was among the intellectuals of India who tried hard for the upliftment of the Dalit community. He is often remembered for his anti-caste efforts and in the trio of Phule-Periyar-Ambedkar. Early lifeEdit Thomas Paines bookJyotirao Govindrao Phule was born in the Satara district of Maharastra in a family of the Mali caste. His father, Govindrao, was a vegetable vendor. Originally Jyotiraos family, known as Gorhays, came from Katgun, a village in Taluka- Khatav, District- Satara. His grandfather Shetiba Gorhay settled down in Pune. Since Jyotiraos father and two uncles served as florists under the last of the Peshwas, they came to be known as Phules. (Reference- P.G. Patil, Collected Works of Mahatma Jotirao Phule, Vol-II, published by Education department, Govt. of Maharashtra). His mother died when he was 9 months old. After completing his primary education Jyotirao had to leave school and help his father by working on the familys farm. He was married at the age of 12. His intelligence was recognised by a Muslim and a Christian neighbour, who persuaded his father to allow Jyotirao to attend the local Scottish Missions High School, which he completed in 1847. The turning point in Jyotibas life was in year 1848, when he was insulted by family members of his Brahmin friend, a bridegroom for his participation in the marriage procession, an auspicious occasion. Jotiba was suddenly facing the divide created by the caste system. Influenced by Thomas Paines book, Rights 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. Satyashodhak SamajEdit On 24 September 1873, Jyotirao formed Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth), of which he was the first president and treasurer. The main objectives of the organisation were to liberate the Shudras to prevent their exploitation by Brahmins. Through the Satyashodhak Samaj, he argued that the Vedas were not sacrosanct.[citation needed]He opposed idolatry and denounced the varna system. Satyashodhak Samaj campaigned for the spread of rational thinking and rejected the need for a Brahmin priestly class as educational and religious leaders. Phule was against those Brahmins who were using religion and blind faith of the masses for their own monetary gains. But he also had many Brahmin personal friends and adopted a Brahmin boy as his heir.[citation needed] Beliefs Savitribai became the head of the womens section which included ninety female members[citation needed]. She worked as a school teacher for girls. After Jyotiraos death in 1890 his followers continued the Samaj campaign to the remotest parts of Maharashtra. Shahu Maharaj, the ruler of Kolhapur moral support to Satyashodhak Samaj. In its new incarnation, it continued the efforts to remove what it considered to be superstition. Many times it degenerated in hate sprouting against Brahmins as a caste.Phule believed that to create a new social system based on freedom, equality, brotherhood, human dignity, economic justice and value devoid of exploitation meant overthrowing the old, unequal and exploitative social system and the values on which it is based. With this belief he attacked blind faith and faith in what is given in religious books and the so-called gods words. He criticised what he consider to be the misleading myths that were ruling over the minds of women, shudras and ati-shudras. Yielding to god or fate, astrology and other such rituals, sacredness, god-men, etc. was deemed irrational and absurd.[citation needed]He also led campaigns to remove the economic and social handicaps that bred blind faith among women, shudras and ati-shudras. Jyotirao subjected religious texts and religious behaviour to the tests of rationalism. He characterised this faith as outwardly religious but in essence politically motivated movements. He accused them of upholding the teachings of religion and refusing to rationally analyse religious teachings. He maintained that at the root of all calamities was the blind faith that religious books were created or inspired by God. Therefore, Phule wanted to abolish this blind faith in the first instance. All established religious and priestly classes find this blind faith useful for their purposes and they try their best to defend it. He questions if there is only one God, who created the whole mankind, why did he write the Vedas only in Sanskrit language despite his anxiety for the welfare of the whole mankind? What about the welfare of those who do not understand this language? Phule concludes that it is untenable to say that religious texts were God-created. To believe so is only ignorance and prejudice. All religions and their religious texts are man-made and they represent the selfish interest of the classes, which are trying to pursue and protect their selfish ends by constructing such books. Phule was the only sociologistand humanist in his time that could put forth such bold ideas. In his view, every religious book is a product of its time and the truths it contains have no permanent and universal validity. Again these texts can never be free from the prejudices and the selfishness of the authors of such books.[citation needed]Phule believed in overthrowing the social system in which man has been deliberately made dependent on others, illiterate, ignorant and poor, with a view to exploiting him. 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] Religion and Caste The Indian society at Jyotibas time, was deeply enmeshed in caste politics. The debate continues to prevail whether the Brahmins of India are indigenous to the land or they migrated from some other part of the world. Despite this, it can be stated that the stratification of the society was based on caste. As such, Jyotirao Phule could be classified as indigenous to the land. His akhandas were based on the abhangs of Indian saint Tukaram[1] (a Moray Shudra.)He was a subscriber to Maharishi Vitthal Ramji Shindes magazine, Dnyanodaya.[2] (Maharishi Shinde was a member of the reformist Prarthana Samaj.)He did not like the casteist of Tamil Nadu using Rama as a symbol of oppression of Aryan conquest.[3]Attack on the sanctity of VedasJyotirao Phules critique of the caste system began with his attack on the Vedas, the most fundamental texts of forward-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 believed that the true inhabitants of Bharat are the Astik.[5] He also believed that the Brahmins were outsiders to Hinduism.[citation needed] This was also the view of Keshavarao Jedhe.[6] Social activismEdit He was assisted in his work by his wife, Savitribai Phule, and together they started the second school for girls in India in 1848, for which he was forced to leave his 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 untouchabilitysurrounding the lower castes by opening his house and the use of his water-well to the members of the lower castes.Phule was a member of the Pune municipality from 1876 to 1882. Connection with women activistsEdit Savitribai Phule was one of the first modern feminists in India.[7] He is also associated with other feminists in the country, including Pandita Ramabai, a Brahmin woman who converted to Christianity and was a leading advocate for the rights and welfare for Indian women, and Tarabai Shinde, the non-Brahmin author of a fiery tract on gender inequality which was largely ignored at the time but has recently become well-known. Another with whom he was associated was Muktabai, a fourteen-year-old pupil in Phules school, whose essay on the social oppression of the Mang and Mahar castes is also now famous.The celebration of Shiv Jayanti (the birthday of Shivaji) has been attributed to him. He also discovered the Samadhi of Shivaji on Raigad Fort which had disappeared in creepers and climbers. He wrote Shivajicha powada an epic poem. Title of MahatmaEdit According to Keer, [8][9] Phule was bestowed with the title of Mahatma on 11 May 1888 by another social reformer from Mumbai, Rao Bahadur Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar. As the history goes, Jyotirao Phule had completed 60 years of his age and 40 years of social service fighting for the rights of the bahujans. To mark this achievement, it was decided by the bahujans and satyashodhak leaders and workers to felicitate Jotirao Phule. Rao Bahadur Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar, Narayan Meghaji Lokhande were in the forefront for arranging this function. Rao Bahadur Vandekar and his fellow workers decided to bestow the title of Mahatma on Jotirao Phule for his dedicated service in the cause of humanity. Sayajirao Maharaj of Baroda, who also was invited for this function but could not attend. He had sent a message that Jotirao Phule be bestowed with the title of ‘Hindustans Booker T. Washington’. However, Rao Bahadur Vithalrao Vandekar explained the reasons for bestowing the title of Mahatma on Jotirao Phule justifying it to be apt for the great work and sacrifice of Jotirao Phule for the downtrodden. On 11 May 1888, a function was arranged in the meeting hall of ‘Mumbai Deshastha Maratha Dnyati-Dharma Sanstha’ at Mandvi, Koliwada, Mumbai for felicitating Jotirao Phule. As the function began, Rao Bahadur Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar explained in detail about the work and sacrifice of Jotirao Phule and his struggle for the rights of the downtrodden bahujans. He then garlanded Jotirao Phule and declared that ‘we people present here, with swasphurti, are bestowing the title of Mahatma upon Jotirao Phule!’.[citation needed] Thus Jotirao Phule came to be known as Mahatma Jotirao Phule thereafter.[10] Published worksEdit Among Phules notable published works are:[11]Tritiya Ratna, 1855Brahmananche Kasab,1869Powada : Chatrapati Shivajiraje Bhosle Yancha, [English: Life Of Shivaji, In Poetical Metre],June 1869Powada: Vidyakhatyatil Brahman Pantoji, June 1869Manav Mahammand(Muhammad) (Abhang)Gulamgiri, 1873Shetkarayacha Aasud(Cultivators Whipcord), July 1881Satsar Ank 1, June 1885Satsar Ank 2, October 1885Ishara, October 1885Gramjoshya sambhandi jahir kabhar, (1886)Satyashodhak Samajokt Mangalashtakasah Sarva Puja-vidhi, 1887Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Poostak, April 1889Sarvajanic Satya Dharmapustak, 1891Akhandadi KavyarachanaAsprashyanchi Kaifiyat CommemorationEdit 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: 1964). 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:The full-length statue inaugurated at the premises of Vidhan Bhavan (Assembly Building of Maharasthra State)Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai, also known as Crawford Market, in MumbaiMahatma Phule Museum in PuneMahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth in Rahuri, Ahmednagar District, Maharastra.Mahathma Phule Mandai, the biggest vegetable market in PuneM. J. P. Rohilkhand UniversitySubharti College of Physiotherapy was formerlynamed after himG. P. Deshpande’s biographical play Satyashodhak (The Truth Seeker) was first performed byJan Natya Manch in 1992.[14] See alsoEdit Social reformers of India ReferencesEdit NotesThere are numerous variant spellings of Phules name. These include Jotirao, Jotibha, and Phooley. Mahatma is an honorific title.CitationsCulture and the Making of Identity in Contemporary IndiaBy Kamala Ganesh, Usha ThakkarP. 113 Political Ideas in Modern India: Thematic Explorations By Vrajendra Raj Mehta, Thomas PanthamSharad Pawar, the Making of a Modern Maratha By P. K. RavindranathFigueira (2002), p. 149P. 13 Positive discrimination and the transformation of caste in India By Christophe JaffrelotP. 16 Positive discrimination and the transformation of caste in India By Christophe JaffrelotWayne (2011), p. 243Charisma and Canon: Essays on the Religious History of the Indian Subcontinent, Vasudha Dalmia, Martin Christof, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 227Mahatma Jotirao Phooley: Father of the Indian Social Revolution, Dhananjay Keer Popular Prakashan, 1974, p. 247Jagtap, Murlidhar (11 May 1993). Yugpurush Mahatma Phule. Mumbai, India: Mahatma Phule Charitra Sadhaney Prakashan Samiti,Government of Maharashtra.Mahatma PhuleOHanlon (1992), p. 107Sarkar (1975), pp. 32-33, 40Life As Message. Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 24. 16 June 2012.BibliographyFigueira, Dorothy Matilda (2002), Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority Through Myths of Identity, SUNY PressOHanlon, Rosalind (1992), Issues of Widowhood in Colonial Western India, in Haynes, Douglas E.; Prakash, Gyan, Contesting Power: Resistance and Everyday Social Relations in South Asia, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-52007-585-6Sarkar, Sumit (1975), Bibliographical Survey of Social Reform Movements in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Motilal Banarsidass/Indian Council of Historical ResearchWayne, Tiffany K., ed. (2011), Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World: A Global Sourcebook and History, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-0-31334-581-4 Further reading External links Read in another language MobileDesktopContent is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.Terms of UsePrivacy
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