Remembering Savitribai Phule, the first women’s rights activist of India on her 193rd birth anniversary

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Social reformer. Trailblazer.
Although it did not include any bloodshed or body count, the revolution led by Savitribai Phule is no less monumental than India’s struggle for Independence.

Along with her husband Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai is said to be the pioneer of the women’s rights movement in India. Besides championing women’s empowerment and education, she also contributed a lot to the emancipation of people from Dalit or untouchable castes.
Together with her husband, she established the first school for women in 1848.

On her 193rd birth anniversary, let’s revisit the life of India’s first feminist.

• She was born on January 3, 1831, in a little hamlet called Naigaon which was located in the Satara District of Maharashtra.

• She hailed from the Mali community. Considered as one of the marginalised communities in India, the Malis were traditionally engaged in gardening.

• She got married at a very tender age. At the time of their wedding, Savitribai was 9 or 10, while her husband was 13.

• She was illiterate at the time of her marriage. Her husband took charge of her education. She was also enrolled in two teacher’s training programs -the first was at an institution run by an American missionary, Cynthia Farrar, in Ahmednagar, and the second course was at a Normal School in Poona (Now Pune).

• The couple was ostracised by their family for their attempts to challenge the status quo. In 1839, the pair got thrown out of their ancestral home by Jyotiba’s father as their work was considered wrong according to the Hindu text ‘Manusmriti’.

• After her education, she started teaching girls in Poona. In 1848, she established the first girl’s school at Bhidewada, Pune. By the end of 1851, she launched three such schools,