Revolutionary Tribute on the 135th Death Anniversary of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (29 November 1890)The seventy-two-year-long life journey of Mahatma Phule, which began on 11 April 1827, stands as one of the earliest and boldest revolts against the caste-based inequalities and untouchability of Indian society. Excluding his early teenage years, he devoted over five decades to challenging deep-rooted social injustice through his writing and actions. His reformist work can truly be called the first major rebellion in nearly five thousand years of Indian social and cultural tradition.Phule was the first Indian to raise a loud voice against the caste order rooted in Hinduism’s four-varna system. At the young age of twenty-one, he began India’s first school for girls, supported by his wife Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh, the sister of his close friend Usman Sheikh. Their pioneering efforts marked the beginning of women’s education in India nearly two hundred years ago.
Considering the current communal and social climate, the educational work initiated by Mahatma Phule, Savitribai Phule, and Fatima Sheikh holds even greater significance today.Similarly, in 1851, Phule established a school for Dalit (depressed) communities—an act considered a grave sin by the Manusmriti, which prohibited education for women and Shudras. Despite this, Phule courageously went ahead. He established more than six schools in total, paving the way for social reform. That is why Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar regarded him as his guru, even though Ambedkar was born 136 days after Phule’s death (14 April 1891).Phule wrote in the language of the common people. Today, Dalit literature has gained prominence, but almost two centuries ago, when most Brahmin writers composed in the classical Marathi literary style, Phule, like the Buddha who wrote in Pali (the people’s language), adopted the spoken tongue for his literature. Through works such as Satsar, Gulamgiri (Slavery), Shetkaryacha Asud (The Farmer’s Whip), Brahmananche Kasab (The Cunningness of Brahmins), Sarvajanik Satyadharma (Public Religion of Truth), and his Povada (folk ballad) on Shivaji Maharaj, he became the first Indian revolutionary writer to challenge the centuries-old oppression of women and Shudras in a logical and literary manner.Although Phule’s works are being translated into other Indian languages—including Hindi and English—only recently, his original Marathi writings continue to stand out. His education at the Scottish Mission School in Pune helped him learn English, enabling him to submit a memorandum in English before the William Hunter Commission in 1882 on educational reforms in India.
The year 1848 was globally revolutionary. In that very year, Phule began educating women and Shudras in Pune’s Bhidewada (Wednesday Peth). Meanwhile, in Europe, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto, and in New York, the first women’s liberation movement began in a Wesleyan church. While American women were fighting slavery, Indian women remained bound under the oppressive Hindu caste order.Because Phule admitted Shudra and Atishudra girls into his school, orthodox elements persecuted him and Savitribai. While going to teach, Savitribai would be pelted with mud, stones, and dung, yet she would carry an extra sari, change upon reaching school, and continue her teaching. Her courage and resilience laid the foundation for the empowerment of Indian women. The fact that today women serve as prime ministers, presidents, governors, and leaders in every field is rooted in the path opened by her. Should not, therefore, India’s “Education Day” be celebrated in memory of Savitribai Phule, the true pioneer of women’s education?Reflecting today, when India’s Supreme Court has supported economic-based reservation, it is relevant to recall how 140 years ago, Mahatma Phule submitted a memorandum on education to the first Indian Education Commission headed by William Hunter (on 19 October 1882). His analysis of educational inequality then still resonates with our times.Phule wrote in that memorandum:
“I am a trader, farmer, and municipal leader. Through my established schools, I have worked extensively as a teacher. The government dreams that the higher castes will spread education among the lower castes, but this is futile. The government collects taxes from poor farmers and uses them to fund the education of the higher castes. Universities serve the sons of the wealthy, promoting their material advancement. Yet, what have these educated men done for the common people? Have they opened schools for the poor? How can one claim that raising the educational standards of the higher castes alone will uplift society? The welfare of a nation cannot be judged by the number of university degrees or titles it awards—just as the presence of laws on hunting or voting rights for the wealthy does not prove constitutional welfare.”Phule further wrote:
“The dominance of Brahmins in higher government posts clearly reflects the bias of the education system. If the government truly wishes to work for public welfare, it must remove these flaws. Appoint people from other communities in limited numbers to check Brahmin dominance. Some claim this is impossible, but if the government shows will and ensures fair opportunities, many good people can be educated and made capable of employment. The upper castes can well provide for their own higher education.”Today, citizens should ask: Has there been any significant improvement in education and employment since Phule’s memorandum to the Hunter Commission nearly 150 years ago? Even after 78 years of independence, government schools are being closed, education has become prohibitively expensive, and poor families struggle to educate their children. The cost of professional courses like medicine, engineering, and management is beyond the reach of the ordinary person. This has deepened inequality rather than reduced it.Therefore, the memorandum Mahatma Phule once submitted to the British government’s Hunter Commission must now be presented again to the present Indian government. Celebrations limited to garlanding his statues or displaying his portraits on anniversaries are of little value. True tribute to Mahatma Jyotiba Phule lies in walking the path he showed the nation.
