JYOTIBA PHULE

JYOTIBA PHULE

Jotiba Phule, a key reformer of the 19th century associated with social injustices (mostly addressed for Shudra / Dalit communities) throughout his life. His work extended to many fields, including untouchability and the caste system and for his efforts in educating women and oppressed caste people.

1. Championing for Education and Emancipation:

• Educational Uplift of the Downtrodden: Phule was immensely conscious or aware of the crippling effects of illiteracy on the lower castes, founded schools for girls and the underprivileged. He believed education was the key to breaking the shackles of caste-based oppression.
  
  
• Promoting Social Mobility: Phule advocated education as a means of opportunities and upward mobility in society. His endeavours cleared the path for a brighter future in minority communities.

2. Resistance to Caste Hierarchy and Misogyny

• Anti-Brahmanical Critique: Phule has written a very scathing critique of the Brahmaical ideology and its inherent suppression, exploitation and discrimination against lower castes.
  He saw that the social norms are considered sacred and could never be disturbed. A book of his, Gulamgiri which has been translated as a Slaves life or Jatiparinibandh in Maharastra, jatisudhar etc made him an unsparing critic.
  
  
  
• Promoting Secularism: Phule advocated for secular society, the manipulation of religious justification served to preserve caste system was questioned by him. He was a firm believer in equal opportunity society irrespective of religion.
  
  

3. On The Promotion Of Women's Rights:

• Championing Women's Education: Phule was aware that women, oppressed and enforced under the Sati system became one of its worst victims. The social and economic oppression of women, he said, had to be overcome.
  
  
• Combating Sati and Child Marriage: Phule was vehemently against the despicable practice of sati, where a widowed woman is made to immolate herself on her husband's funeral pyre. It played a major role in ending these practices.
  
  

4. Organizing for Social Justice Movements:

The Satyashodhak Samaj: Phule founded the Society of Truth-Seekers in 1873. It had some objectives of promoting social equality, and fighting against the evils of caste discrimination with a special reference to inter-caste marriages.

• Shaping Future Leaders: Her work influenced many social reformers and political leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar along side the initial women's rights activist in India , Savitribai Phule.
  
  
  
  

5.Intellectual contributions:

• Literacy contributions: He made generous use of the print media to propagate and wrote extensively in Marathi language. Example- He elaborated upon his views on the historical roots of slavery and compared it with the Black American in Gulamgiri.