Jyotiba Phule
In early 19th century, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule organized a powerful non-Brahmin movement. He was born in 1828 in a Mali family and his education, personal experience and association with the Christian missionaries made him staunch critic of the prevailing Hindu religion and custom. In 1854, he opened a school for the ‘untouchables‘ and started a private orphanage to help widows. Jyoti Phule had a violent dislike of the Brahmin priesthood. He made no distinction between non-Brahmins and untouchables.
The cause of the poor was so dear to him that when he met the Duke of York, he presented himself in a loin-cloth as the true representative of the poverty stricken Indian peasant. To liberate the depressed classes and make them conscious of their rights by educating them, he founded the Satya Shodhak Samaj in 1873. To carry forward his anti-Brahmin activities in an organized manner, he wrote two critical works –Sarvajnik Satyadharma Pustak and Ghulamgiri.
Jyotiba Phule
Jyotiba Phule was regarded as the father of Indian Social Revolution. He was a thinker, educationist, social activist and the first reformer to stand against the caste system in India. He worked for abolition of caste system and untouchability. Jyotiba Phule was born in 1827 into a Malii family in Maharashtra. His education and association with Christian missionaries induced radical thinking against the societal norms. During his early 20s, he was influenced by Thomas Paine’s book Rights of Man. He realized that women and lower castes were oppressed in the country. Phule organized a strong non-Brahmin movement. He thought educating women would empower them. So in 1848, he along with his wife started an all-girls school in Pune. In 1854, he opened a school for the oppressed castes. He established a private orphanage for widows.
With aim to liberate and empower the untouchables, he founded Satya Shodhak Samaj in 1873. Satya Shodhak Samaj- society of seekers of truth aimed at attaining equal rights to the lower castes. He even published books which promoted anti caste system. Significant works of Phule include, Sarvajanik Satyadharma Pustak, Ghulamgiri, Tritiya Ratna, etc.
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