jyotirao phule was one of the most vocal amongst the low caste?
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One of the most vocal amongst the “low-caste” leaders was Jyotirao Phule. Born in 1827, he studied in schools set up by Christian missionaries. On growing up he developed his own ideas about the injustices of caste society.
Phule, who was born on 11 April 1827, challenged the very premise of the racial theory of caste using his choicest weapon — reason.
From possibly coining the term Dalit to opening the first school for women in the country, Phule was a radical thinker who practised what he preached. He fought against untouchability and gender discrimination with equal passion.
Sample this. Having been married to Savitribai, a social activist, very early in his life, Phule was advised by his coterie of friends and acquaintances to remarry since they suspected Savitribai could not conceive. Phule, however, turned down the suggestion, saying if it were the man who couldn’t conceive, the woman would never be offered such an option. He would go on to adopt a child.
Throughout Gulamgiri, Phule continuously asserted how lack of access to education was the reason for subjugation of Dalits.
Phule was acutely aware — partly due to a personal experience — that Brahmins had maintained their hegemonic control over Indian society by excluding other castes from speaking, reading or even writing Sanskrit. This was one of the reasons that led Phule to set up a school in 1848 where both Dalit men and women could study, and that too not in Sanskrit.
The move upset many across caste and gender lines. Later on, he would become a pioneer of education for women and of widow remarriage.