Phule’s Vision of Dalit Welfare

 

Mahatma Phule had a vision of social justice through education. His initiatives towards bringing education for lower castes and women are significant aspects of his struggle against Brahmanism. He is also known as the nineteenth-century philosopher of Modern India. He emphasized the need of education for lower castes in order to gain the freedom and social rights. When one talk about the socio-economic condition of lower castes, it becomes important to talk about the literacy of Dalits. The socio-economic conditions of Dalits have always been worse. It is important to attain education as it is also the achievement connected to “health, political participation, and other indicators of social development”.

Education in India has always been dominated by upper castes and upper classes. With many other things, lower caste people were denied the right to education. The Shudras and Ati-Shudras were not allowed to pursue education as it is the instrument that can establish the better social status for them. The upper castes also did not want them to rise near or above their own social status. As assigned by the birth, the lower castes were expected just to do the labour and menial works. Also, educating the Shudras and Ati-Shudras was against the Hindu law as proclaimed in Hindu teachings.

Phule’s social and political ideology was totally revolutionary suggesting deep involvement with social transformation. During those days the Shudras and the untouchables were a dehumanized lot not only in Maharashtra but whole of India. People belonging to lower classes whether touchables or untouchable Shudras, they were all treated like slaves and serfs. Though the renaissance had begun, but the Shudras were hated and discouraged to participate in the social life of the country. Virtually they had no right to education. No social status. They were not allowed to use public places, visit temples take water from public wells and tanks.

Phule expressed that he is doing a fair amount of contributions for the access to the education, but it seems the Government is ignorant of the condition of Shudras and Ati-Shudras. Phule represents his critical views on the educational policy of Government. Throughout the pages of his document, he emphasizes that how the benefits of education are being enjoyed by only the people belonging to upper castes. The British Indian Government was the hope for the lower caste people as it was the only political force that could fight against the Brahmanism. Education was entirely dominated by Brahmins. In his ideas on the education, Phule had also stressed the English education for lower castes. In a way, he is mainly exposing how the dominance of upper castes operates in the tract of education. He proposes the plan for the amendment in the education system. In his proposal, he puts forward also the idea of scholarships which will be helpful for the masses to acquire the education. Without scholarships, the lower classes will further be excluded again due to their poverty. He also asks for the increase in the number of schools, for remodeling the teachers and the method of teaching in the schools. The lower class people feel alienated in the school because of the Brahmin teachers. The lower caste people were never treated with dignity. In other words, Phule mainly recommended conceptualizing the system of education so it may be fruitful to all the groups of people in society, not just to Brahmins.

Phule made powerful pleas to abolish untouchability and the entire caste-system. He revolted against the unjust caste-system under which millions of people had suffered for centuries. The Dalit at that time did not have any political, social, educational and economic rights. He condemned dual morality of the Brahman system. He said equal opportunity should get to all people. He said by birth all are free and equal. All human beings have natural rights. He was a militant advocate of human rights to the downtrodens.

A pioneer of anti-caste movement, he was no doubt, the leading social reformer who founded and started non-Brahmin movement which reawakened the Mangs, Mahars, Chambhars, Kumbhar, Kolis, Koshtis, Kunbis, Malis, Ramoshis etc., the dehumanized castes of 19th century Maharashtra, through Satya Shodhak Samaj founded in 1873. For long the Hindu scriptures and the Manusmriti prevented the Shudras and the Ati-Shudras the tight of education and a just place in the Hindu social order. If the Shudras either heard the Vedas recited or tried to gain knowledge, molten lead should be poured in their ears. That has been the cruel-criminal practice for centuries.

Phule’s Saatya Shodhak Samaj, being a Truth Seeking Society founded in Pune, soon became a powerful non-Brahmin movement in Maharashtra. It worked for uniting and mobilizing the backward Shudras and the untouchables, the workers and the small and marginal farmers. The Samaj was an organization not only for the uplift of the toiling and suppressed people but for awakening them and to be beware of cunning priest hood of the day. Phule said that the main aim of Satya Shodhak Samaj was to save die lower classes from the clutches of the hydo-critical Brahmins and their totally false and opportunistic so called scriptures, by fighting untouchability and caste system which had weakened and enslaved India.

His Satya Shodhak Samaj discarded the religious services of the priestly class. He advised his people to start priestless marriages and even in other religious ceremonies priests should not be invited. This radical idea demoralized the Brahmins and they took up the matter in the court of law. In rural areas the Shudras and Ati-Shudras, artisans and peasants were exploited and suppressed by both Bhatji (priest) and Shetji (money lender or trader). Phule in his writings and speeches exposed the fraudulent practices of these classes. As a staunch champion of the exploited classes, he again and again preached for education and equality among non-Brahmin castes for getting respectful place in the society and urged the government to take care of the lower classes.

Jyotiba Phule protested against man-made inequality which was rooted in Hindu caste-system and Varna-Vyavastha. He struggled fearlessly to implements the reforms in the Hindu society. He tried to remove inferiority complex from the minds of the people. He made aware to Shudras. He advised them take education and acquires power; they are not slave but human beings. As T.L.Joshi said, “Jyotiba Phule was one of the first persons to rebel against the traditional social system in India. From where did he find the inspiration for this revolt considering that the prevailing social laws had taken a firm hold on the Indian mind for thousands of years? The answer is that Jotiba was a Satyashodhak—a seeker of truth—the moral truth of human life. The manifestation of that perennial truth was his belief in man’s freedom in the universe, as upheld by modern western civilisation”.

There were several liberal and trusted Brahmin friends and other progressive young men who stood with him in his mission. They all assisted him in mobilizing the untouchables and lower classes against disabilities they suffered. Many social reformers in fact derived inspiration from him. All his practical efforts matched his pronounced convictions. Only Raja Mohun Roy was the genuine social reformer of the early renaissance period, but Phule was certainly the top-most who vehemently opposed the priestcraft, practice of untouchability and caste gradation which stood for paralyzing the toiling masses; dehumanized and oppressed them for centuries following the scriptures. As a great humanist he also rose against maltreatment to the widows and advocated their remarriage, and even gave a lead in caring for their illegitimate children and not favoured child-marriage and marriage with the aged. His social doctrine was based on humanitananism and social premise of equality.

Mahatma Phule established the Satyashodhak Samaj which sowed the seeds of development of the masses and propounded the spread of rational thinking. The movement carried on by the samaj was the first of its kind to reach the remote villages. He carried on the social reform movements based on social equality. Phule believed in the equality of men and women. He did not merely stress the equality of men but also equality of men and women. For Phule equality in the society was meaningless without equality of man and woman in the family. He propagated universal humanism based on values of freedom, equality and universal brotherhood. He criticized the caste system through the books “Gulamgiri” and “Brahmanache Kasab”. He established the Satyashodhak Samaj. He sowed the seeds of development of masses.

Jyotiba inspired a fervent philosophy of revolution among the Shudras and untouchable people of India. According to him, real revolution occurs only when it results in the liberation of that section of the society, who are really downtrodden and deprived. In this respect, Jyotiba was a real seer of revolution and also one who tried to put it into practice. In other words, he was both a seer and a Karmayogi. It goes without saying that true faith encompasses revolution only, through individual’s revolutionary practice. It is such unity of thought and action which gives a true meaning and momentum to any revolutionary movement. Mahatma Gandhi also belonged to the same category of revolutionaries. Much before Gandhi appeared on the scene, Jyotiba had pioneered similar kinds of revolutionary ideas in his area of thinking and working. Therefore, Jyotiba could be taken as the first Mahatma. He could very well be taken as being the successor to such stalwarts like Buddha, Mahavir, Nanak, Martin Luther King Jr. and other similar leaders. He cut to size the reactionary influences of the priestly classes and posed a serious challenge to the predominance of the rich and powerful elements of the society. He gave a clarion call of revolution to workers, peasants, women, Shudras and all other weaker sections of the society. He really blew the trumpet of revolution which could inspire all the struggling sections of the society. 

The real importance of Jyotiba lies in the fact that he came as a forward banner and even as a vanguard of revolution for slaves, Shudras, untouchables and for those who were even lesser than them. In this revolutionary work of Jyotiba and Savitri bai played the role of a revolutionary partner. She walked in step to step with him and worked shoulder to shoulder with him in his entire revolutionary task. She became a true symbol of life-partner and life-togetherness. They virtually became one soul despite remaining confined in two bodies. She came at par with him in all respects. She really turned out to be a true female Mahatma.

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 blind faith eradication formed part of a broad socioeconomic transformation. This was his strategy for ending 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… Shudras became conscious of their caste identity and started claiming equality with higher castes in all areas of life. In short, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule liberated women and Shudras from the control of religious vested interests and laid the foundation for a Backward Class Movement in India”.

Jyotirao Phule established two schools in 1851 for girls. A third school was started by him in 1852. These were the first girls’ schools started by Indians in Pune, where the Presbyterian Mission had already founded such schools several years ago. In March 1852, Phule founded the Poona low caste school. On the eve of the public examination, a correspondent of The Poona Observer and Deccan Weekly Reporter in its issue of March 19, 1853, stated that the origin and progress of the school was owing to the individual labour of Phule who taught the students of the first class in this school while the other three lower classes were taught by different teachers. It seems that the correspondent had himself watched the performance of the students when, in a private examination held earlier and presided over by Major Candy, the students received “the repeated approbation of the examiners”.

Phule and his colleagues faced many difficulties in running the schools for lower castes. The Report of the Public Examination of the Poona Mahar and Mang Schools mentioned some of the major difficulties. Mahar and Mang families often went on pilgrimage and attended certain meetings peculiar to their castes. This resulted in a thin attendance at the schools for weeks together. The children had no means of protecting themselves against the inclemency of weather. Attendance during the rainy season and winter was very thin. In the absence of a proper atmosphere and facilities at home, children of the untouchables could not prepare their lessons at home and had to prepare them at school

during school hours. In 1858, when the Government sanctioned the grant of five thousand rupees for the construction of a new building for the school and handed over a site to the management, several Europeans and Indians who used to contribute regularly to the school funds promptly withdrew their monthly subscription, thinking that the low caste school was not in need of financial help”.

In the days of company’s rule, Shudras were not encouraged to get education. The East India Company’s educational policy was to give priority to the education of the upper classes. Though a special cess for educational purposes was collected from the farmers, Phule commented that not much money was spent on the education of the masses. After underlining the fact that nearly nine-tenths of the villages in the Bombay Presidency or nearly 10 lakhs of children, were without any provision whatsoever for primary education, he urged the Government that primary education should be made compulsory upto a certain age, say at least 12 years. He requested the Government to set up separate schools for the Mahars and Mangs and other castes which were not allowed to attend the other schools owing to caste prejudice (Phadke, 27-28).

Jyotirao’s chain of schools meant for Dalit and Shudra girls and boys was just a humble beginning, but the functioning, management and the results attracted more and more sympathizers. There were orthodox people also who had opposed his venture. His upper caste friends helped him financially in running these schools. His efforts were symbolic for future generations. H.W. Reeves, then Revenue Commissioner, Southern Division, announced a donation of Rs. 15 per mensem for the schools of Mahars and Mangs. It can be seen from this that Jyotirao’s work for the low castes was appreciated more by the liberal Europeans. The Europeans generously contributed towards the fund for the low caste schools. Later, Phule wrote in his fiery book Slavery: “I shall never forget the assistance H.W Reeves, Revenue Commissioner, rendered to the schools. He not only rendered financial help but also visited off and on the Mahar-Mang schools, made inquiries about the progress made by them and struggled hard to encourage them in every way. Low caste people will be under his everlasting obligations which it would not be possible for them to repay. I am exeedingly grateful to various other Europeans who helped me in the spread of education among the Mahars and Mangs”. The position of schools established by Phule were good, but the question of earning a livelihood was pressing hard on him as both Jyotirao and his wife Savitri bai had been serving the schools without any remuneration, nobly and selflessly. He passed some years fully engrossed in this work, which demanded close and unremitted attention. His father had driven him out of his house and he now felt the need of a job. He accepted the post of a teacher in a Scottish Missionary School in Pune. It was a female boarding school started in July 1854 in the compound of the Mission. The institution consisted of an orphanage or home for destitute children, and a boarding school for the female children of converts whose parents could not rightly or fully train them and such other children over whom the mission could exercise a control.

Mahatma Phule was not an ordinary school teacher. He was a great teacher of the society. He gave his students the insight and power to think by preparing their minds for the reception of the seeds of thought and by digging, hoeing and ploughing their minds; for instruction is related to knowledge and education to the faculties of the mind. According to him, if the Shudras and the ignored ones were educated they will rise in revolt for their rights in society and establishing a just social order. Prayers and devotional songs were all for spiritual bliss. Education was for a rightful place in society. Phule found an opportunity to place the exact picture of negligible education among the Shudras when British Government appointed an Education Commission known as Hunter Commission. The Indian Education Commission appointed by the Government of India in 1882 was touring all over India. It was popularly known as die Hunter Commission after its President Sir William Hunter. In every British Indian Province, a Provincial Committee was set up to help the Commission by giving it detailed information on the educational conditions. The Commission studied the problem in every province and examined witnesses. Memorials were addressed to the Commission and one of them was from Jyotirao.

In his memorial dated the 19th October 1882, gave a detailed account of the schools he had established. The period of his service as a teacher and his experience in the field of education. Phule quoted some pertinent extracts from the introduction to his book Slavery and restated his view that though revenue and cess were collected from the farmers the Government spent profusely on the education of the higher classes believing in the Utopian idea that they would endeavour to spread it among the lower classes. The Universities educated many children of wealthy men, and advanced the material prospects of some of them. But they had made no contribution to the great work of regenerating their fellowmen.

Jyotirao stated that primary education was utterly neglected in the Bombay Presidency. Primary schools were not provided with proper requirements. Nearly nine-tenths of the villages in this Presidency or nearly 10 lakhs of children, it is said, are without any provision whatever for primary education. The cultivating and other poor classes, Jyotirao observed, did not avail themselves of the primary education. A few of the latter classes were found in primary and secondary schools, but they could not continue long in school because they were extremely poor; they required their children to tend cattle and to look after their fields; and they received no inducements in the forms of scholarships and prizes. Concerning the system of Government scholarships, Jyotirao said that it should be so arranged that some of the scholarships should be awarded to those classes among whom education had made no progress. The system of awarding students scholarships by competition, he added, although abstractedly equitable, did not tend to the spread of education among the poor classes.

Phule pleaded that, “primary education of the masses should be made compulsory up to a certain age, say at least 12 years. Muhammedans also hold aloof from these schools as they somehow evince no liking for Marathi or English. There are a few Muhammedan primary schools where their own language is taught. The Mahars, Mangs and other lower classes are practically excluded from all schools owing to caste prejudices, as they are not allowed to sit by the side of the children of the higher castes. Consequently special schools for these have been opened by Government But they exist only in large towns. In the whole of Poona and for a population exceeding over 5,000 people there is only one school in which the attendance is under 30 boys. This state of matters is not at all creditable to the educational authorities. I beg to urge that Mahars, Mangs and other classes, where their number is large enough, should have separate schools for them, as they are not allowed to attend the other schools owing to caste prejudices”.

Jyotirao further said that the primary education imparted in Government schools must be placed on a satisfactory, sound basis, must be practical and useful in the future life of the children. Both the teaching machinery employed and the course of instruction then followed required a thorough remodelling. He was in favour of bettering the service conditions of teachers and recommended an increase in the salaries and status of the primary teachers, and also the appointment of trained teachers.

Throughout the text of Gulamgiri, Phule stresses that Hindu religion is indefensible mainly because it violates the rights and dignity of human beings. He turns the “false books” of the Brahmans on their head by reinterpreting the “Dashavataara” of Vishnu to rewrite a history of the struggles of the Shudras and Atishudras. He moves swiftly between the power and knowledge nexus in everyday cultural practices, myths and history. In his “Memorandum Addressed to the Education Commission” (1882) for a more inclusive policy on education and in his popular compositions like the short ballad on “Brahman Teachers in the Education Department” (1869), Phule demonstrates how state policy and dominant pedagogical practices are intrinsically interlinked. He comments at length on the differential treatment to children of different castes and the collusion of interests of the Bombay government school inspectors and teachers. He calls for more plurality in the appointment of teachers and the need to appoint those committed to teaching as a truth-seeking exercise.

Jyotiba’s unflagging industry, perennial love and watchful care improved the tone of his schools, and these surpassed the work and worth of the Government vernacular schools. A note in the Poona Observer criticised the Board of Education for neglecting the Government Vernacular Schools and omitting one ot their important and responsible duties. It brought to their notice the deplorably bad condition of those schools which were put under the management of superannuated ill-educated men utterly ignorant of their duties. The guardians, it added, were exceedingly apathetic and the Government schools suffered for want of proper equipment. Contrasting the work of these Governments’ vernacular schools with that of the female schools started by Jyotirao, a native friend of the editor of the Poona Observer, wrote to him that the attendance in those schools was ten times more numerous than that of the vernacular schools.

According to Phule, children were the wealth of the nation and the wealth of the nation was his wealth. He looked after the children in the orphanage opened by him. For money he had no love. He tried to live by his own hard work, never leaned on others for his livelihood. For ages it was the practice of the Shudras who rose to eminence by virtue of their learning or abilities to join the higher class, to assimilate themselves with the Brahmins and to forget and neglect the class from which they sprang. Almost all Indian ancient famous saints and seers afford such illustrations. But Jyotirao was the only eminent man from the lower classes who had ample opportunities to attain prosperity and to shine in the galaxy of the brilliant men of the upper classes, and yet he neither joined them nor made common cause with them.

The education and welfare of the lower classes absorbed his thoughts. Realizing the work of Phule in education, the Bombay Guardian newspaper appreciated that, “…many of the old school Brahmins are displeased that a present of shawls should have been made to a Sudra (Jotee Govindrao is a gardener by caste, although not by occupation) the Brahmins maintain that a man of his rank should receive the lower reward of money. Probably the feeling is that of displeasure that any reward whatever should have been given to him. We have the pleasure of knowing well the energetic native of whom we have been writing. Were all young Poona like him, it would be a matter of exceeding joy. That reckless infidelity which has laid waste so many of the young minds there, he trembles at as much as we do. Probably we may have occasion to notice him again, ere long. To have to chronicle such things is a delightful task”. The Brahmins who were displeased had harboured their wrath in their hearts. To them the very idea of a non-Brahmin being honoured in the Peshwa’s palace must have been unbearable. Shawls were presented in those days to Sanskrit Pandits most of whom did not know, to quote the Lokahitawadi, the meaning of what they recited. To them a man of learning meant a man well-versed in Sanskrit because Sanskrit alone was considered the repository of knowledge. Naturally they felt perturbed at this dire insult inflicted on them by Government by honouring a Shudra in their presence! They had a past before them; but they did not know that for them the present had ceased to exist.

The conventions and standards by which their life had been regulated had come to an end. Old values and beliefs had fallen to pieces. Jyotiba’s colleagues were motivated by humanitarian ideals as were the English humanitarians of their age. But a humanitarian may not necessarily cherish a love for social and religious equality. This was the difference between Jyotirao and his benevolent colleagues. A man who inwardly clings to the idea of superiority of his high caste over others, from which he derives social prestige, privileges and power, cannot be a social revolutionary. Socially, a Brahmin cannot be a social revolutionary, barring some brilliant individual examples of great men, just as a British king cannot be a socialist by instinct. Jyotirao wanted to impart education in such a way that the lower classes would be prepared to fight for their rights of liberty and equality. At this time, some differences of opinion appeared to have arisen between them on the content and nature of education to be imparted to low caste children. The girls’ schools started by Jyotirao were running smoothly under the management of the committee. He was also required, he observes, for certain reasons to place the schools for the Mahars and Mangs under a committee.

Now that Jyotirao had placed all the schools under societies, in the conduct of these schools the will of the majority came to prevail-Jyotirao’s colleagues did not like the interpretations he put on the holy puranas, scriptures and history and were afraid these would filter down to the lower caste pupils. He bitterly exposed the motives of the makers of laws and social injunctions. The matter was discussed at some meetings and many differences came to the surface. Jyotirao insisted their colleagues that they should be such an education as would give them knowledge of what was right and what was wrong. He wanted them to fight for their rights and be able to guard their interests. Jyotirao was honoured in consideration of the great interest he had taken in the establishment of native female schools in Poona for low caste children. It was indeed a great day for Jotirao’s friends who, amidst stress and storm, heroically stood by him. It was also a great day in the history of female education and education of backward classes in India.

Savitribai looked unflaggngly after the children in the orphanage as if she were their mother. She had no child; but with her hind and generous disposition she tenderly and lovingly cherished the infants. It was her practice to invite, from time to time, all neighbouring children to dinner. She was happiest and smiled her sweetest when she was left among children. So dearly she loved children. She would invite her female neighbours to help her to dress and feed the children. For several years she had worked in the girl’s school conducted by her husband. One can imagine the significance of her work when one knows that until 1873 a woman’s appointment to the post of teacher was noted in leading papers like the Native Opinion as a matter of respect and pride.

Jyotirao had been preparing the ground for a social reform movement. With a view to freeing the lower classes and caste-feeling and from the thraldom of Brahminism, he had written books and pamphlets on the subject. He was busy writing a book, parts of which he completed in August and December 1872. The first part of the book contained his proclamation under which he challenged Parashuram to appear before society as he was described by Brahmin scriptures and Puranas to have been living for ages. This was unmistakably a dig Jyotirao had at the Brahmins as he wanted to annihilate the doctrine of incarnation in Brahminism. The other part comprised his manifesto relating to his readiness to regard any man as a member of his family and to have food with him if he was convinced that the man led a virtuous life, had faith in God and was following an honest calling. Jyotirao declared that he himself had broken the shackles imposed upon him by Brahmin scriptures and come out of the prison of slavery. He denounced all Brahmin scriptures and their teaching which had condemned the Shudras as the slaves of Brahmins, and he declared as his brothers all those who treated him as his equal, even if from another country. It was a sequel to his three books on the same subject. Liberty, equality, and fraternity is the burden of his books. Liberty is essential to every man.

To bestow, the book observes, liberty on a man who does not enjoy it is the duty of every good man under the sun. It is a great achievement to recapture the God-given rights of every human being who has been deprived of it. A self-respecting man would not falter to do this act. Every human being needs proper rights for his or her happiness. To confer freedom on every human being by liberating him from injustice, is the main object of noble men who undertake such great tasks at the risk of their lives. Phule urged the necessity of nominating men from the lower classes to Municipal bodies to look after the interests and amenities of the lower classes, such as adequate supply of water and light. It was his experience that because of absence of representatives of the lower classes on Municipal bodies., the poor classes were not provided even the minimum supply of water. When the Atishudras and the poor classes of Poona started using cisterns in the localities of the Brahmins, they obtained a supply of water for their own cisterns. He felt that it was the bounden duty of the Municipality to provide proper lighting and an adequate water supply to the lower classes. He wrote that the practice of calling the roll for the criminal tribes who committed robberies was not improper; but he held the view that the same practice would have been not improper in case of pregnant Brahmin widows whose crimes were more sinful and harmful to society. Jotirao further observed that had the Brahmins been real patriots they would not have reduced the Shudras and Atishudras to slavery and regarded even pure spring water at their hands as more impure than the urine of animals.

Mahatma Phule believed that the Vedas were not God-inspired. They were man-made. The Vedas fomented divisions in society. The theory that the Brahmins sprang from the mouth of Brahma, Kashatriyas from his Arms, Shudras from his feet was galling and flagrant myth. As according to him, Narada stirred up quarrels among the Kashatriyas and made the world safe for the Brahmnins, he condemned him as a villain. He condemned Manusmriti as an unholy work which prescribed slavery for the Shudras. He had nothing but praise for the mighty personality of the Buddha. The Brahmins, in order to establish their supremacy again, gave up beef-eating and wine and absorbing some tenets of Buddhism, they revised their holy works and ultimately defeated Buddhism by cruelly persecuting its followers. The message, through his book, to the Shudras and Atishudras was that they should educate themselves as long as British rule was there in the land. It was not certain how long that rule would last. But during that time they should be all educated and prepared to fight their battle for liberty, equality and fraternity by dispelling ignorance and prejudices, destroying the coils of slavery entwined around them by the Brahmins.

Phule revolted against priestcraft, the gods of the Brahmins, the scriptures, the puranas as he thought they were dripping with tears and the blood of generations of Shudras and Atishudras who had been their victims for ages. British rule had brought with it justice, an independent judiciary, and scientific outlook, and stood in bold relief against the background of unrest, arson and injustice of Peshwa rule. He was happy to see that British rule had brought education, science and justice for all; but he overrated its blessings. He could not realize that the British god of Progress was sitting on the Indian caste system from which he did not care to alight, and so there would be no equitable progress for all the classes in India. Jyotirao’s fight for the emancipation of Shudras and Atishudras, who were peasants and landless classes, was against their exploiters, and in those days they happened to be Brahmins. The men who were running the administration of the British were almost all Brahmins. The moneylenders and Government officers such as police-officers, Shirastedars, Mamlatdars and Assistant Judges were Brahmins. They all combined to keep the lower classes in bondage and exploited them jointly. Brahmin priests, money-lenders and lawyers were always there in every village to fleece them of money. Their lands and property were defrauded by this trio. So the fight assumed the colour of communalism, though its trend was economic and social. By this time, Phule resolved to launch a movement in Maharashtra for their liberation from Brahmin thraldom. He was required an institution, an authoritative credo and a platform for the propagation of his ideals.

During the previous fifteen years he had been propagating his views, preaching at public meetings, through leaflets and booklets the importance of education and exhorting the lower castes to educate their children, and to redeem themselves from the evil customs, wicked prejudices and wily precepts imposed on them in the name of God by the Brahmin priests and their religious works. Jyotirao impressed upon their mind that their slavery was not inborn, inseparable and preordained or a divine dispensation as described in the Brahmanic scriptures. Awakening self-respect in the peasants and toiling masses, he infused courage in them to stand up against the poverty and social injustice, and against the oppressive, unjust and inhuman Hindu priestcraft and the caste system. He also imbued them with new thoughts, new ideals of human dignity, equality and self-salvation.

Phule wanted to organize his followers and workers, so that they might assimilate his rational ideas and bring them into effect. It was his aim also to show the Government how the peasants were being exploited and how they were suffering from a desperate, grinding poverty and glaring social inequality. He strove hard to raise the Atishudras to the level of the Shudras. Lost rights are not secured without a struggle. Jyotirao knew well that the upper castes, especially the Brahmins, would be not only unsympathetic but also intolerant and that the tradition-mongers would not easily give up their privileges, position and power. There was no question of their expecting to get any political rights as they had no strength and organization behind them. So he decided to set up an organization to preach his ideology. Accordingly, Jyotiba Phule convened on September 24, 1873, a meeting of all his admirers and disciples at Poona. About sixty men from many important centres of Maharashtra assembled. Jyotirao made an impressive introductory speech and impressed upon his followers the necessity of a central institution for the guidance of the movement.

After some discussion and several other speeches, it was agreed to form an institution. There was much enthusiasm among the chosen lieutenants of Jotirao. They decided to organise the mission and to spread the message of the movement. Jotirao named this institution Satya-Shodhak Samaj—Truth-Seeking Society. It must be mentioned here that Phulr’s three Brahmin friends, Vinayak Bapuji Bhandarkar, Vinayak Bapuji Dengle and Sitaram Sakharam Datar helped Jotirao and his colleagues to establish the Satya-Shodhak Samaj. The objects of the Samaj were to redeem the Shudras and Atishudras from the influence of Brahmanical scriptures under which the Brahmin priests fleeced them, to make them conscious of their human rights, and to liberate them from mental and religious slavery. Membership of the Samaj was extended to all castes including Brahmins and Mahars and Mangs, and even Jews and Muslims were its members in its early stage. The weekly meetings held on Sundays at the places where branches of the Satya Shodhak Samaj were established. The subjects discussed were the necessity of temperance and compulsory education, encouragement of swadeshi goods, dislodging the Brahmin priest from the position he held in the religious field, making arrangements for performing marriage at minimum expenses, and freeing men from the beliefs in astrology, ghosts and demons. The main attack was upon the caste system and idol-worship. Emphasis was also on the principle of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of Man.

Rationality and the equality were the principles on which he based the Satya Shodhak Samaj. The former principle was used to overthrow tradition and deny the supremacy of the scriptures. The principle of equality was used to attack the caste system. The Satya Shodhak Samaj worked to undermine the cultural and religious sanction for priest hood by conducting rituals and ceremonies without Brahmins. In its attack on the caste system it drew from both Western rationalism as well as indigenous sources of social revolt like the Bhakti. What distinguished the Satya Shodhak Samaj was its non elitist mass nature. In propagating its ideology it made wide use of the vernacular. The backbone its came from the Maratha peasantry (Maratha Kunbis, Malis, Kolis etc). It also gained some support from untouchables. The “commercial bourgeoisie” comprising of tradesmen, contractors etc. were another source of support.

Jyotiba’s activities were extended beyond the field of education. The drinking water tank in his house was thrown open to untouchables. This would be considered a brave act even today. In 1868, it was revolutionary. He believed that revolutionary thought has to be backed by revolutionary praxis. He said in the social system there was a domination of upper caste and they were enjoying privileges. There were differences on the basis of caste, sex. No human rights to downtrodden, only sufferings, inferior treatment, injustice, exploitation was there in the Society. This type of social system was supported by religious puran and Vedas. Hence Phule showed strong reaction against this. He sought to create a new culture in the society which is based on equality, justice and humanity.

He wanted to create a new social system in India based upon equality, justice, liberty and fraternity. In the history of India he was the first person who spread women education by opening girl schools and opened orphanages for widow women and their children. He was the first Indian who was honoured by British Government for his noble work. He was severely criticized by Brahmin Samaj for his noble work and attacked by them. But he continued with his movement. He sacrificed his life for the upliftment of untouchables, peasants and women. Mahatma Phule is regarded as the most important figure of social reform movement in India. He is regarded as the father of Indian social revolution.

Phule’s exposure to education is important. He studied in one of the Scottish mission schools in Pune. The school was Phule’s first encounter with new ideas of social reform and religious radicalism. The Scottish missionaries had a certain determination to admit boys of the lowest castes and this led to conflicts with Brahmin students. This intermingling of castes as well as the atmosphere of hostility left their imprint on Phule. As stated by Low, Phule’s initial purpose was to pillory Brahman rapaciousness, and the grasp that Brahmans had secured on the administrative and educational institutions which the British were now fostering. But his most ambitious task was to appropriate for the anti-Brahman cause those myths, symbols and traditions in Maharashtra that were ordinarily employed to uphold the Brahman primacy.
Phule suggested compulsory, universal and creative education. Education of women and the lower caste; he believed, deserved priority. Hence at home he began educating his wife Savitribai and open girl’s first school in India in August 1848. Only eight girls were admitted on the first day. Steadily the number of students increased. Jyotirao opened two more girl’s schools during 1851-52. He also started a school for the lower classes, especially the Mahars and Mangs. Thus the pioneering work done by Phule in the field of female and lower castes education was unparalleled in the history of education in India. Phule was the first Indian social reformer who repeatedly urged the alien government to pay attention to primary education which was neglected. All the time he was making people aware about the education and compelling the British Government to make arrangement for education of all people of India. He fought for the right of education equally for all the people regardless of the caste and class. He knew once the people are educated they would fight themselves for their rights without any outside help and support. He said that progress of individuals was possible only with education. “The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life, which does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion…..real education is that which enables one to stand on one’s legs”.

In the curriculum of primary education, preliminary knowledge about agriculture and health should be included. The curriculum of primary education should be reoriented to provide the demands of rural areas. There should be clear demarcation between the curriculum of rural and urban area. Education should be utilitarian and practical so as to cover the needs of the society. A scheme of ideal farming should be implemented on a small scale. Practical knowledge is superior to bookish knowledge hence primary knowledge in Modi (a special Marathi scrip with regional languages supported), Accounts, History, Grammar, Agriculture, Ethics and Health should be imparted. Quantitative growth in Primary school is no doubt important but it should not be considered at the cost of qualitative one. Jyotiba Phule started two institutions- Native Female School, Pune and the Society for Promoting the Education of Mahars and Mangs. They built a network of schools in the Pune region through these two institutions. Phule started publication of two newspapers- Dnyanodaya and Bombay Guardian for extension of their efforts of female education and empowerment of backward classes.
Whatever may be the trajectory of subjection of the lower castes their liberation rests primarily on education. He emphatically laid down on education. He emphatically laid down the lack of education as the root cause of the degradation of lower castes, as stated previously. “Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule stressed on universalisation of education i.e. education for all irrespective of caste, colour, creed, sex and poverty. Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule had done a lot in his life to reform society, to fight for establishing equality in society. As he wanted education for all, same is the motto of present education system, to provide education to all. Following his principles Dr. Ambedkar had compiled the constitution in which we have provision for free and compulsory education and universalization of education in the constitution in the art 45 but the target of this article is yet to be achieved which was to be achieved within 10 years from the commencement of the constitution”.

Many of the children were child labour in domestic households, agricultural fields and small scale industries. But Phule and ruler of Kolhapur state, Shahu Maharaj established child rehabilitation centers and orphan houses and diverted children from being labour. Mahatma Phule was a follower of three famous. Principles namely equality, fraternity and brotherhood. Mahatma Phule wished all-round development of the society. The Satya Shodhak Samaj was the first institution to spread education among the backward and suppressed classes in rural area of Maharashtra. In 1848 he established first girl’s school in Pune and made his wife Teacher. Even British Government admired his courage.
The activities of the Satya Shodhak Samaj got a fillip when the Maharaja of Kolhapur, Shahu Maharaja extended his support to it. The Maharaja had realized that political power was also necessary for advancement of the backward classes. To this end he encouraged the education of the lower castes and introduced reservation for them in his administration. Following Mahatma Phule he aided in replacing religious ceremonies which previously were the prerogative of Brahmins by those performed by the lower castes themselves. His initiatives set off a broad and very active movement of the lower castes which was to have a profound effect upon the growth of political organization in the Bombay Presidency and the shaping of the nationalist movement towards the end of the nineteenth century. He worked in the fields of Caste system, education particularly for women and lower castes, removal of untouchability and upliftment of widows.
Today education has been reduced to transmitting information. There is a fear of examination because of bookish education. Little bit we have to be practical in system, we have to brought life-oriented education. In this context, Phule’s education system is still very relevant. For him knowledge was not just information. It involves questioning, understanding critiquing knowledge. Interpretation, critique and values all three are central to Phule who way back in the 19th century gave an alternative to the information approach to knowledge. For him, “Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world’s work, and the power to appreciate life”. For Phule knowledge matters because it can question, change and transform the individual and society. Thus for Phule, like John Dewey education can empower and make society more democratic. It can help in reconstructing, rethinking, interpreting tradition. This aspect of Phule is extremely relevant in the paradoxical context of caste in contemporary India- where despite constitutional provisions, caste discrimination is widespread.
From the above discussion, it is clear that during those days though the Vedas are conveying message of equality, due to blind beliefs spread by Brahmins and Caste Hindus, the society was divided in terms of castes. As such, though backward classes were important role in economic activities of the society, the backward classes were deprived in society. The reason for the same was the Shudras, Ati-Shudras and women were deprived or rejected to get education and it was resulted in the negligence of these caste groups. Due to illiteracy, these groups were forced to believe in blind faith, which has degraded, discriminated and exploited them in society. In this way, due to lack of education of backward classes and women, they were kept in dark. Mahatma Phule has realized the same.
Phule emphasized the education of Shudras, Ati-Shudras and women to get liberate themselves from the conventional shackles. For this purpose, he started female and Dalits’ education. His ideas were based on humanity, equality and fraternity rather than blind faith. Even he has taken measures to eradicate practice of untouchability. His ideas were based on truth rather than blind faith and conventions. For this purpose, education is major way to get wisdom and knowledge and Phule encouraged education of these groups. Apart from education, Phule also organized his movement against untouchability. Further, he supported and encouraged widows’ remarriage.