Mahatma Jyotirao Govindrao Phule is one of the social reformers of India who is known as the champion of equal rights for poor farmers and women. Born on April 11, 1827, Phule is remembered for his efforts to educate women and lower caste people. He was also a writer who wrote extensively on the abolition of untouchability and the caste system, and women’s emancipation. The social reformer breathed his last on November 28, 1890.
As the nation remembers Phule on his birth anniversary, here are some lesser known facts about the social reformer:
1. Phule was critical of the caste system because under this system the place of people was determined on the basis of the social group in which they were born. He always raised his voice against discrimination against the members of the lower castes.
2. He was born in a family of Mali caste within the Shudra social class. His family used to grow and sell vegetables.
3. The social worker went to a high school in Pune run by Scottish Christian missionaries and it is said that his ideas were influenced by the American struggles against freedom and slavery.
4. He was married to Savitribai Phule, who is considered the first female teacher of India. It is said that he taught his wife at home. Both of them opened a school for lower caste girls in Pune in 1848. At that time, it was rare for girls of any caste to get education in the country. During her travels, she opened several schools for girls in the Pune region.
5. Phule was a supporter of child marriage and widow remarriage, which was not allowed in most of the castes at that time.
6. He was also the founder of a reform society called the Satyashodhak Samaj which aimed to promote social equality and to unite and uplift the Shudras and “untouchables”.
7. It is said that a turning point in his life came when his Brahmin friend’s parents scolded him for attending their wedding because he belongs to a lower caste. The incident reportedly shocked him and he decided to work for the rights of the lower castes.
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