Today is 121st death anniversary of Savitribai Phule, a leading reformer of the 19th century whose efforts led to an upheaval of women in the society. At the time when women had to seek permission for everything, she brought a revolutionary change by fighting against dowry, child marriage, and what not.
A woman who single-handedly broke so many stereotypes and fought for women’s right to education needs to be recognized and respected for her deeds. This is why, here are some lesser known, inspiring facts about Savitribai Phule that you must know:
• Savitribai was born on January 3, 1831, and at the age of 9, she was married to social reformer Jyotirao Phule, aged 12 at that time. Despite marrying at an early age, Jyotirao supported him to gain education at the time when India was against women education. Since girls were not allowed to go to school, Jyotirao himself taught her and later she went to train with British teachers in Ahmednagar and Pune.
• She established India’s first girls’ school in 1848 and opened the gates to women of all ages, caste, and religion. She went from door to door to request parents to send their daughters to schools and never cared about the upper and lower caste and welcomed girls from every caste with open arms.
• She had to face a lot of flak from the so-called Hindus who couldn’t bear the fact that she was providing education to even lower caste. The atrocities rose to such a level that people started throwing cow dung and mud at her. Besides, when teachers started leaving because of the agitation, she herself decided to teach her students and became the first woman teacher in India.
• Jyotirao and Savitribai together founded the Satya Shodhak Samaj to help the poor and downtrodden section of the society. She helped pregnant widows, rape victims, and even encouraged people for inter-caste marriages at the time when caste system was ridiculously rigid.
• Savitribai performed the last rites for her husband on his demise and continued with the social reforms. She opened a care center for the people affected by the bubonic plague. While taking care of the patients, she herself contracted the disease and passed away on 10th March 1897.
• In her honor, a stamp was released by the Indian Post on March 10, 1998. Also, in 2015, the University of Pune was renamed as Savitribai Phule Pune University.
