Last Days of Savitribai and Her Family

 

In July 1887, Jotirao suffered from a heart attack which paralysed his right side completely. Savitribai nursed him night and day through this illness. He recovered and even started writing again. This was a time when they were facing a financial crisis. The business of the Poona Construction and Contracting Company had hit a low, sources of income were drying up and the expenses were tremendous. The couple was at their wits end, with the expenses over the illness, the maintenance of the hostel, home for prevention infanticide, Satyashodhak Samaj and the education of the children. There came a time when they had no money to pay even for treatment and Dr. Vishram Ramji Ghole provided treatment for free.

Jotirao’s well-wisher and the great thinker and political sage, Mama Paramanand wrote letters to the King of Baroda- Sayajirao Gaekwad asking for financial help for Jotirao and Savitribai. In a letter dated 31 July 1890, written to recommend that financial help be given to Jotirao and Savitribai, he has recorded the historic work that the couple was engaged in. This evaluation by a contemporary thinker is especially significant. In very adverse situations, Jotirao educated his wife and through her, educated the Brahman girls, and that too, in the very fort of the orthodox and much against their will. The task of starting schools for people from the Mahar-Mang classes and running them is akin to taking a dig at a lion. More than Jotirao, his wife deserves praise. No matter how much we praise her, it would not be enough. How can one describe her stature? She cooperated with her husband completely and along with him, faced all the trials and tribulations that came their way. It is difficult to find such a sacrificing woman even among the highly educated women from upper castes. The couple has spent their entire life working for people, he stressed.

Following this, Mama wrote another letter on 9 August 1890 requesting that financial help be given urgently. Jotiba has spent many years of his life in selfless service of the masses and today, he is leading a life of helplessness and really requires immediate help, he urged. The King of Baroda had respect for the work that Jotirao was doing, but it is possible that the upper caste bureaucrats never let these letters reach him. Meanwhile, on 28 November 1890, Jotirao passed away due to this illness. In December 1890, Mama wrote a third letter, in which he wrote, “That great soul never gave any importance to his happiness and sorrow. He was only worried about the welfare of his wife and his adopted son, Yeshwant. At least now, financial assistance should be given to the family members of Jotirao. The stubborn Mama persevered and followed-up this matter continuously for one and half years. He wrote another application in Yeshwant’s name. Savitribai and Yeshwant were managing to survive on the basis of the minimal assistance that had been given to them by Mama and another friend of Jotirao, Ramchadrarao Dhamanaskar.

At last, on 10 February 1892, Maharaja Sayajirao gave a cheque of Rs. 1,000 to Dhamanaskar for Savitribai. This amount was invested in the S. Narayan Company of Tukaramtatya Padwal and the interest amounting to Rs.50 per quarter was sent to Savitribai. On 2 March 1892, Dhamanaskar sent a letter to Mama which said, “The Maharaja feels that a huge memorial should be erected in the memory of Jotirao”. The Maharaja will contribute substantially in monetary terms for it. He also wrote that the Maharaja had made solicitous inquiries about Savitribai. This memorial, however, never became a reality.

Savitribai was with Jotirao when he died. In his will, he had expressed his wish to be buried with salt covering his body, instead of being burnt on the pyre. He had also got a pit dug in the land behind his house for it. But since the Municipality officers did not give permission for burial on residential land, and since there was no other option, his body was consigned to flames. Whoever holds the Titve (earthen pot) during the last journey is considered the successor of the deceased and gets all the property of the deceased. Knowing this, Jotirao’s nephew came forward and started contesting Yeshwant’s rights to hold the titve.

At this time, Savitribai courageously came forward and held the titve herself. She led the last journey of Jotirao, walking ahead of the procession and was the one who consigned his body to the flames. In the history of India, in a thousand years, this was probably the first time a woman had performed the death rites. On 30 November, his ashes were brought home and were ceremoniously buried in the place that Jotirao had prepared for his burial. Savitribai erected a Tulsi vrindavan on that spot. It can be seen even today. Simple stone padukas (marks of the feet of great persons) have been erected at its base. This is how Savitribai erected a memorial in the area behind their house for preserving Jotirao’s memories unto eternity.

Savitribai led the Satyashodhak movement after Jotirao’s demise, working till the very end. Yeshwant took up a job in the army after completing his medical education. During the course of his work, he had to travel to many foreign countries. While he was on one such foreign trip, on 6 March 1895, his wife Radha alias Laxmi passed away. Savitribai was left alone at home.

Savitribai Phule was the Chairperson of the Satyashodhak Conference held in 1893 at Saswad. She did a lot of work during the drought of 1896. The year 1897 dawned along with the menace of plague. Every day, hundreds of people were dying of the scourge in the Pune region. The government took up the task of controlling the epidemic under the leadership of an officer called Rand. Savitribai asked Yeshwant to take leave and come back and made him set up a hospital on the fields of the Sasane family. She would herself pick up sick people and bring them to the hospital and treat them. Even though she knew that the disease was contagious, she continued to serve and take care of the patients.

As soon as she came to know that the son of Pandurang Babaji Gaekwad in the Mahar settlement outside the village of Mundhwa was afflicted with plague, she went there and rushed back to the hospital with the sick child on her back. She herself caught the disease in this process, and at 9 pm on 10 March 1897, she passed away. Deenbandhu reported the news of her death with great grief and regret. Those who praise the heroic act of Laxmibai, of fighting the enemy with her son strapped onto her back, however, have completely ignored the heroism of this woman who saved a sick child, carrying him on her back. From 1848 to 1897, for 50 years at a stretch, Savitribai worked tirelessly for people. She set an extraordinary example of service and compassion.

After her death, the lonely Dr. Yeshwant was very disturbed. In 1903, he married Chandrabhagabai and she gave birth to a girl child who was named Soni alias Laxmi. He worked in Hong Kong, Africa and China for the army. He passed away on 13 October 1906. The feeling of becoming orphaned and lonely was overwhelming for his wife, Chandrabhaga and his daughter, Soni. First, they sold all of Jotirao’s books to a scrap dealer. Then, they survived by selling the utensils in the house, and finally on 28 October 1910, they sold Jotirao and Savitribai’s historical house for a mere hundred rupees to Maruti Krishnaji Dedage.

Jotirao and Savitirbai’s daughter-in-law was rendered homeless and died a destitute in the temple of Rameshwar. Her last rites were performed by the Municipality. Her daughter later got married to Baburao Gangaram Holey. She gave birth to two children - a son and a daughter. The son, Dattatraya Baburao Holey stays in Dattawadi, Pune and daughter, Mathura Koddre lived in Mundhwa. Laxmibai died in 1938, and Yeshwantrao’s wife Chandrabhagabai had died before that, around 1930.

A revolutionary family had to face such heart wrenching destitution and adversity. The widowed daughter-in-law of Jotirao and Savitribai, who brought the light of happiness into the lives of hundreds of widows, had to die a destitute’s death on the footsteps of a temple. If Jotirao and Savitribai had invested their hard-earned money, instead of generously spending it for social causes, their daughter-in-law and grand daughter would not have had to undergo such grief and face such deprivation.

Jotirao himself died due to lack of treatment, all for the social cause. Savitribai and Dr Yeshwant died while serving the sick during the plague epidemic. Savitri, Jotirao’s daughter-in-law died on the footpath in acute penury and his granddaughter had to marry a widower, due to poverty. What can one say about this tragedy? How can one describe this extreme sacrifice?

Her life and work is a testament to social reform and female empowerment in Indian society. She remains an inspiration for many women rights’ activists in modern times.