Savitribai Phule

Why is in news? PM Modi pays homage to social reformer Savitribai Phule on her birth anniversary

Savitribai Phule was an Indian social reformer, educationalist, and poet from Maharashtra.

She was born on 3 January 1831 in the village of Naigaon in Satara District, Maharashtra.

She was the youngest daughter of Lakshmi and Khandoji Nevase Patil, both of whom belonged to the Mali Community.

At the age of 9, she was married to 13-year-old Jyotirao Phule.

Jyotirao Phule, better known as Jyotiba, was also a social reformer who worked in the field of women education. Jyotirao educated Savitribai at home after their marriage.

Along with her husband, in Maharashtra, she played an important and vital role in improving women's rights in India.

She is considered to be the pioneer of India's feminist movement.

Savitribai and her husband founded one of the first modern Indian girls' school in Pune, at Bhide wada in 1848.

She worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender.

She published Kavya Phule in 1854 and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1892. In her poem, Go, Get Education, she urges the oppressed communities to get an education and break free from the chains of oppression.

In 1852, Savitribai started the Mahila Seva Mandal to raise awareness about women’s rights. Savitribai called for a women’s gathering where members from all castes were welcome and everybody was expected to sit on the same mattress.

She simultaneously campaigned against child marriage, while supporting widow remarriage.

In 1863, they started a home for the prevention of infanticide in their own house, for the safety of pregnant, exploited Brahman widows and to nurture their children.

After Jyotiba’s death in 1890, Savitribai carried forward the work of the organization Satya Shodhak Samaj and also chaired the annual session held at Saswad in 1893.

She initiated the first Satyashodhak marriage—a marriage without a dowry, Brahmin priests or Brahminical rituals in 1873.

Savitribai Phule died on 10 March 1897, while caring for a patient in the clinic she had opened for the treatment of those affected by the bubonic plague.

Satya Shodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers Society):

It was founded by Jyotirao Phule in 1873 in Pune.

Satya shodhak samaj was founded with a purpose to give education to the lower castes, scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and made them aware of the exploiting tradition of society.