Maharashtra
is a land of saints. Various saints of Maharashtra tried to spread the message
of oneness of god. They told that their is a direct relationship between a god
and his followers. Savata Mali was
such a saint who was very famous in Maharashtra. He was a bhakt of Vithoba and
used to live in Padharpur,Maharashtra. He was contemporary to saint Namdeo (CE
1270-1338). Mahatma Jyotirao phule was born in such a great clan. Jyotiba’s
ancestor main occupation was farming.
Jyotiba's grandfather had three sons
Ranoji,Krishna and Govind.All three sons were hardworking and were skilled in
their work. Due to poor condition of their family they had to start work at
very early age. At beginning they work tor Mahajan in grazing their cattles.
Later Mahajan took them in his Flowers business.
Because of
their Mali caste and their family occupation they became expert in their work.
They became famous for their works related to flower and its production. And when news of their
expertise reached to Peshwa he invited them and appointed to the royal garden
in Pune. Peshwa also gave them 35 acre of land near Parvati Pahadi as a prize
for their work. And from this time they came to be known as phule.
Govindrao was
married to Chimna Bai the daughter of Zagde Patil of Dhanakbadi village.
Govindrao had two sons whose names are Rajaram and Jyotirao. Jyoti means flame
and that flame removed darkness from the caste ridden backward society of that
time.
Birth of Jyotirao.
Jyotiba was
born on 11th april 1827 in Pune. His mother passed away when he was only one
year old. Demise of wife was a big blow to Govindrao. But he decided not to
marry again. At that time lower caste people were not allowed to take education
but Govindrao decided to educate his son. Schools were managed by private
educational institutions and only upper caste students were permitted in it.
Only Sanskrit, Grammar, Astrology, theology were taught in those schools. Lower
caste students were not allowed to learn
such subjects . Some orthodox people went further and persuade the education
department of British empire to pass a resolution to deny lower caste students
from studying in Government schools.
Childhood and education.
Peshwa rule
was ended and British came to power in India. But society was still dominated
by the caste and that caste decides who could take education . Shudras were
also affected by the new and heavy taxation system of British government. At
that time lack of basic education was the sole reason behind all the misery and
exploitation of Shudra castes.
Political
transformation had moved the administrative posts from Peshwa to British. But the
lower post in government services remained under the local peoples. According
to newly established British rule everyone was equal in front of the law .The
law of land was same for all irrespective of caste. The most significant change
which British empire brought was Education for all. Educational institutions
were open for all people and there was no caste barrier. British also opened
new government schools and colleges at district and presidency level.
Jyotiba was 7
years old and he too wanted to go to school like other upper caste boys. He
requested his father to admit him to school but his father was adamant about
this. He thought that Jyotiba's demand for school is total madness as no member
from his family had ever went to school.
Finally after
consistent demand of Jyotiba Govindrao agreed to let him go to school. Jyotiba
was admitted to a government school where he studied so rigorously. School
teachers were fond of him. Some orthodox upper caste people were unhappy with
Shudras going to school and taking education. They were saying that the world
will now come to end as the Shudras has started taking education and they will
destroy the brahmanical system of profession by birth.They also said that
Shudras are doing the work which is supposed to be done by only Brahmans.
People
started threatening Govindrao about Jyotiba's education and he successfully
persuaded him to stop his education. Helpless jyotiba could not do anything
without his father's support.
Jyotiba's
started working with his father in farm and gardens. But he continued his
study, after returning from work he used to study and read books until late
night. Jyotiba's dedication to study had got the attention of two great
scholars living in his neighbourhood. Gaffar Beg a known Urdu and Persian
language expert and Father Ligit had explained Govindrao about his son
intelligence and about his ability to influence people. They also explained
that no one became anti-religion or immoral after taking education. Govindrao
thought deeply about this and finally
admitted jyotiba in 1841 to a Scottish mission English school.
In this
school Jyotiba came in contact with so many Muslim students. And from them he
came to know about the inequalities in the Hindu society.
Jyotiba
completed his school education in 1847. In that time English schools provided
education only up to 7th grade. There was no institution for higher education. Until
now Jyotiba was fully convinced that ignorance is the problem of all social
evils. The society which divides its people into caste, creed and religion is
nothing but a mentally slave society. Upper caste had treated fellow lower
castes as their slaves and exploited them for centuries. They prevented lower
caste people from making any progress. He said our real struggle is not with
the British empire , it is with our internal enemies who had exploited us for centuries.
British will go one day but the real enemy will remain and we have to first
fight for that.
Missionary school had helped Jyotiba in his initial years in shaping his ideology. Humanitarianism in Christianity, Christian fathers and their mode of work, writings of Thomas Pen has contributed a lot in shaping Jyotiba's ideology which helped him in building his-anti caste movement. Jyotiba was influenced by Thomas Penn's book "rights of man" which explains the religious hypocrisy of orthodox people
Jyotiba's was
so much inspired by the American revolution and its foundational values like
Equality and liberty.
Jyotiba on religion
Jyotiba was
so much distress with inequality in the society. He thought that if Brahmins
and me are following the same religion then how I am inferior to them? Religion
is equal for all ,everyone is same before the god then why this differences
exist in society?? Jyotiba came to the conclusion that Caste system is the real
problem to all this practices . Caste system made Brahmin a superior and dalit
inferior. And Brahmins don’t want this system to break as it authorized his
monopoly over all types of social functions from taking education to guiding
society about the religion.
He also
thought that it is not right time to
fight against British. As it will paved a way for establishment of a
brahmanical rule and common people will not get to enjoy the freedom of independence.
They will have to go through more oppressive regime than the British.
In 1888
Jyotiba got affected with paralysis and his left side became inactive. Jyotiba
was bedridden but he guided his
Satyashodhak samaj volunteers and also discussed with them. In this critical
situation he wrote the preface of his book "Sarvajanik Satyadharma"(Truth Seeker Society) but
unfortunately it was not published in his life time. On 28 November 1890
Jyotiba took his last breath and a fighter who introduced modern renaissance in
India left this world.
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