“The Incredible Life of Savitribhai Phule - The Fearless Reformer” by Swati Sengupta

It was a time when women in India were confined to the households by virtue of inveterate age old beliefs. It was a time when the caste system deep rooted in the society purposefully denied education to women and lower castes. It was a time when any change to the so called “order” that the caste system dictates was regarded an impending danger to the society. The regressive state of the society imposed practices of child marriage, sati, enforced widowhood, all of which were mere attempts to curtail the freedom of women and establish the unjust social order. Being a woman from a lower caste meant she had to endure double the oppression - caste based and gender based. 

A 9-year old girl who dreamt of going to school was facing the situation of getting married to an unknown 13-year old boy. From this stage where she had to succumb to the societal shackles to a stage where she was instrumental in shattering the societal shackles not just for her but for generations to come, Savitribhai Phule’s journey is a testament to her determination, bravery and resilience. 

“The incredible life of Savitribhai Phule - the fearless reformer” by Swati Sengupta is a concise biography of Savitribhai that covers all key events in her life chronologically from her marriage to death. Savitribhai was born in 1831 into a Dalit family at Naigaon, a village in Maharashtra. Savitribhai who was getting married to Jyotirao at the age of nine thought that was the end of her dream to learn. On the contrary, little did she know that she was about to be the pioneer of feminist movement in India and the first ever woman teacher of India.

Jyotirao, who had experienced a denial of education after being humiliated by higher caste students at school understood Savitribhai’s pain and her wish to learn. He taught her to read and write. Savitribhai, determined to change the pitiful state of women in India decided to impart education to women in her neighbourhood. She attended teacher training to ensure she was equipped to impart knowledge to the underprivileged girls. 

When Savitribhai was 17, she and Jyotirao decided to start a school for girls. In 1848, they started the first school for girls in India at Bhidaweda, a locality in Pune. Her attempt to educate women was a direct opposition to what was happening in the society.

On her way to school, loud, jeering voices came to her from all sides. She was targeted with incessant violence and the crowd used to pelt stones at her. People used to fling dung at her cursing her of ruining the purity of the society. However, she was undeterred and continued to follow her path to liberate women from the patriarchy and the shackles of caste. Savitribai once stated, “As I do the sacred task of teaching my fellow sisters, the stones or cow dung that you throw seem like flowers to me. May God bless you!”. Such was her resilience and her refusal to conform. 

Savitribhai did not limit herself to educating women to free them from the patriarchy they had been subjugated to. She voiced out against social ostracisation of widows and organised a barber’s strike against shaving the hair of widowed women in 1860. Widowed mothers who were often sexually exploited, killed off newborns and committed suicide. Savitribhai started a home for widowed mothers and children born out of wedlock.

“Satyashodhak Samaj” started by Savitribhai and Jyotirao focused on the fight for social equality of the marginalised and women. The organization also promoted Satyashodhak marriage - a marriage that rejected dowries, happened without following any customs and respected both the bride and groom equally. 

Savitribhai died at the age of 66 succumbing to bubonic plague after being at the forefront of providing rehab and medical facilities to patients who were affected with the same disease.

Savitribhai Phule is a revolutionary who stood against all odds for the betterment of the society. She took the unchartered paths that no one else had dared to take before.