Jotirao Govindrao Phule was born in the Satara district of Maharashtra in a family belonging to the Mali (Fulmali) caste, which was perceived as an inferior caste by certain sections of society. His father, Govindrao, was a vegetable vendor. Originally, Jotirao’s family, known as Gorhays, came from Katgun, a village in Taluka-Khatav, District-Satara. His grandfather, Shetiba Gorhay, settled down in Poona. Since Jotirao’s 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 the Education Department, Govt. of Maharashtra). His mother died when he was 9 months old. After completing his primary education, Jotirao had to leave school and help his father by working on the family’s farm. He was married at the age of 12. His intelligence was recognized by a Muslim and a Christian neighbor who persuaded his father to allow Jotirao to attend the local Scottish Mission’s High School, which he completed in 1847. The turning point in Jotiba’s life was in the 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 suddenly faced the divide created by the caste system. Influenced by Thomas Paine’s book, “Rights of Man” (1791), Phule developed a keen sense of social justice. He argued that the education of women and the ‘lower castes’ was a vital priority in addressing social inequalities. On 24 September 1873, Jotirao formed ‘Satya Shodhak Samaj’ (Society of Seekers of Truth) with himself as its first president and treasurer. The main objectives of the organization were to liberate the Shudras and Ati Shudras and to prevent their ‘exploitation’ by the upper castes like Brahmans.
Through this Satya Shodhak Samaj, Jotirao refused to regard the Vedas as sacrosanct. He opposed idolatry and denounced the chaturanga system (the caste system). Satya Shodhak Samaj propounded the spread of rational thinking and rejected the need for a Brahman priestly class as educational and religious leaders. He was an aboriginal of India and established Satyadharma and never renounced his faith. He was against those Brahmins who were using religion and the blind faith of the masses for their monetary gains.
But Jyotiba had many Brahmin personal friends, and he even adopted a Brahmin boy as his heir. He made a will giving his large property after his death to this Brahmin boy. When Phule established the Satya Shodhak Samaj, Savitribai became the head of the women’s section, which included ninety female members. Moreover, she worked tirelessly as a school teacher for girls. Deenbandhu publication, the mouthpiece of the Satya Shodhak Samaj, played an important role in SatyaShodhak Samaj’s movement.
Jyotirao firmly believed that if one wanted to create a new social system based on freedom, equality, brotherhood, human dignity, economic justice, and devoid of exploitation, one would have to overthrow the old, unequal, and exploitative social system and the values on which it was based. Knowing this well, Jyotirao attacked blind faith and faith in what is given in religious books and the so-called god’s words. He tore to pieces the misleading myths that ruled over the minds of women, shudras, and ati-shudras.
Yielding to god or fate, astrology, and other such rituals, sacredness, god-men, etc. were deemed irrational and absurd. [citation needed] He also led campaigns to remove the economic and social handicaps that breed blind faith among women, shudras, and ati-shudras. Jyotirao subjected religious texts and religious behavior to the tests of rationalism. He characterized this faith as an outwardly religious but essentially politically motivated movement. He accused them of upholding the teachings of religion and refusing to rationally analyze 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 questioned, “If there is only one God who created the whole mankind, why did he write the Vedas only in the 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 concluded that it was untenable to say that religious texts were God-created. To believe so was only ignorance and prejudice. All religions and their religious texts are man-made, and they represent the selfish interests of the classes that are trying to pursue and protect their selfish ends by constructing such books. Phule was the only sociologist and humanist in his time who 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 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, the eradication of blind faith formed part of a broad socioeconomic transformation. This was his strategy for ending the 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. Religion.
Jotirao Phule was an Indian aborigine. His khandas were based on the abhangs of the Indian aboriginal saint Tukaram [3] (a Moray Shudra.) [4] His own hero was Chhatrapati Shivaji. He called Shivaji a “… destroyer of the Muslims” [5]. He believed that they were a degenerative force, like wild animals. [6] He was a subscriber to Maharishi Vitthal Ramji Shinde’s magazine, Dnyanodaya [6]. (Maharishi Shinde was a Harijan or “untouchable” and a member of the reformist Prarthana Samaj. He did not like the casteist of Tamil Nadu using Lord Rama as a symbol of the oppression of the Aryan conquest [7]). In the year 1873, Jotirao Gavondraw Fule (spelled as such then) dedicated his book “Slavery” thus: “DEDICATED TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES as a token of admiration for their sublime, disinterested, and self-sacrificing devotion in the cause of Negro Slavery; and with an earnest desire that my countrymen may take their noble example as their guide in the emancipation of their Sudra Brethren from the trammels of Brahmin thralldom.”
Jyotirao Phule’s critique of the caste system began with his attack on the Vedas, the most fundamental texts of forward-caste Hindus. He considered the Vedas as ‘idle fantasies’ and ‘palpably absurd legends’. He considered the Vedas a ‘form of false consciousness’ [8]. He believed that the true inhabitants of Bharat are the Astik [9]. He also believed that the Brahmins were outsiders to Hinduism. This was also the view spoken by Keshavarao Jehde. After Jotiba’s death in 1890, there was a period of a lull when the flame lit by Jotiba waned.
The Satya Shodhak Samaj movement was a social movement and had nothing to do with politics, but the members of Satya Shodhak Samaj dissolved Satya Shodhak Samaj. Phule had a favorable opinion about British Rule in India, at least from the point of view of introducing modern notions of justice and equality in Indian society and taking India into the future. Phule admired the British because, at that time, Indian people except the Brahmins were far from education and were not getting any social benefits.
In the British Government, the situation was better for them. For the Bahujans, the British were better than the Bramhin rulers. Social activism 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 initiated widow-remarriage and started a home for upper-caste widows in 1854, as well as a home for newborn infants to prevent female infanticide.
Phule tried to eliminate the stigma of social untouchability surrounding the lower castes by opening his house and the use of his water well to the members of the lower castes. He formed the Satya Shodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) on September 24, 1873, a group whose main aim was to liberate the social Shudra and Untouchable castes from exploitation and oppression. Phule was a member of the Pune municipality from 1876 to 1882.
Some of India’s first modern feminists were closely associated with Phule, including his wife Savitribai Phule; Pandita Ramabai, a Brahmin woman who was a leading advocate for the rights and welfare of women in India; 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; and Muktabai, a fourteen-year-old pupil in Phule’s school, whose essay on the social oppression of the Mang and Mahar castes is also now famous. He started “Shiv Jayanti” (the Birthday of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj) for the first time in India. He also discovered the “Samadhi” of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on Raigad Fort which had disappeared in creepers and climbers.
He wrote “Shivajicha posada,” an epic poem. The great social reformer Jotirao Phule was bestowed with the unique title of ‘Mahatma’ on May 11, 1888, by another great social reformer from Mumbai, Rao Bahadur Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar. As history goes, Jotirao Phule had completed 60 years of his age and 40 years of social service fighting for the rights of the ‘Bahujan.’ To mark this achievement, it was decided by the Bahujan and satyashodhak leaders and workers to felicitate Jotirao Phule. Rao Bahadur Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar and Narayan Meghaji Lokhande were at the forefront of 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. Hon. Sayajirao Maharaj of Baroda, who was also invited to this function, could not attend. He had sent a message that Jotirao Phule is bestowed with the title of ‘Hindustan’s 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 the “Mumbai Deshastha Maratha Dnyati-Dharma Sanstha” at Mandvi, Koliwada, Mumbai to felicitate 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!”. Thus, Jotirao Phule came to be known as Mahatma Jotirao Phule thereafter.
Detailed information about the historic event above has been given in the Hindi book “Yugpurush Mahatma Phule,” published by the Government of Maharashtra on 11 May 1993 to mark the 105th anniversary of the event. This book was written by Murlidhar Jagtap and published by Mahatma Phule Charitra Sadhaney Prakashan Samiti, c/o Higher & Technical Education Dept., Government of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai-400032. The then Honorable Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra Shri Sharad Pawar, and Coordinator, Mahatma Phule Charitra Sadhaney Prakashan Samiti, Government of Maharashtra Shri Hari Narke, has written the foreword/introduction for this book. Jotirao Phule had 40 years of social service. Krantisurya Phule has many followers. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the first minister of the law of the Republic of India and the architect of the Indian Constitution, was inspired by his noble work toward humanity.
Noted freedom fighter and Gandhian leader like Mukundrao Bhujbal Patil, who is the Ex-President of the Bombay Pradesh Congress Committee, was the one who tried to bring the work done by Jyotirao Phule into the limelight. There are many followers of the work done by him, one among them is Honorable Minister of Maharashtra Chhagan Bhujbal, the founder of Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, an organization that works for the social upliftment of Dalits and OBCs. Telugu actor Chiranjeevi, who started a political party, stated that he is very much inspired by the work done by Phule, especially in creating social harmony. M. S. Chandramohan, a writer, is also very much inspired by the work done by Phule, especially in creating a social education system. V. G. R Naragoni is an OBC leader in Andhra Pradesh who got inspired by Phule and followed him and conducted deep research on Phule’s movements and wrote several books on Phule, like “Bahujana Vudhyama Radha Saradhulu.”
Conclusion:
Mahatma Jyotirao Govindrao Phule (April 11, 1827 – November 28, 1890), also known as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, was an activist, thinker, social reformer, writer, philosopher, theologian, scholar, editor, and revolutionary from Maharashtra, India in the nineteenth century. Jotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule were pioneers of women’s education in India. His remarkable influence was apparent in fields such as education, agriculture, the caste system, women’s and widow’s upliftment, and the removal of untouchability. He is most known for his efforts to educate women, lower castes, and the masses.
After educating his wife, he opened the first school for girls in India in August 1848. In September 1873, Jotirao, along with his followers, formed the Satya Shodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) with the main objective of liberating the Bahujans, Shudras, and Ati-Shudras and protecting them from exploitation and atrocities. For his fight to attain equal rights for peasants and the lower castes 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.”
