International Journal of Innovative Social Science & Humanities Research ISSN: 2349-1876 Crusaders of Female Education in Colonial India: A case study of Savitribai Phule Dr. Renu Pandey, Asst. Professor, Deptt. of History, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow ABSTRACT In the nineteenth- century when the colonizer began taking an active role in reforming and governing India, the Orientalist discourse depicted the Indian woman as being passive, hidden behind the veil or purdah, victimized by atrocities such as sati and the domestication of the woman like cattle. There started a search for “civil, political, and religious rights for Indian Women straight from the belly of the great religious and social reform movements of the nineteenth- century.” Time and time again in all parts of India whether the women were in purdah, or widows, or housewives without much of a voice, we see recorded stories of female agency as these same women “asserted their rights, addressed social inequalities, and rejected or adapted tradition in an engagement with the world around them in what amounted to Indian feminism.” We hear about women contesting divorce in western India in the 1880s, we hear about organizations, such as those of Savitribai to improve the lives of the lower caste. We hear about stories written by widows, such as, Rassundari Devi, which helped improve the lives of widows, and when we examine vernacular plays, poems, folk literature, such as those of Jogeshwari, “a considerable body of literature can be amassed to present a case for the emergence of feminism” and the growth of education for the women of India. Despite the “education” of the respectable Indian woman, she was able to defy her stance by rebelling in understated ways through her writing and through her movement between her inner and outer space created for her by Indian patriarchal and British colonial structures. Although at times, her struggle was a lonely one, there was hope for her to regain a respectability that was independent from her male perpetrators. This paper discusses the role of Savitribai Phule in the development of education of the women of India, with special reference to the women of Maharashtra. The education of the Indian woman is also referenced against the backdrop of the nationalist movement in India against imperialist rule and its effects on the women of the country. Awake, arise and Educate Smash Tradition-Liberate! --- SAVITRIBAI PHULE Introduction subcontinent through their system education. Even educated Indians also started thinking of reforming Indian society through various activities. Female In the eyes of the British administration, education education was also one such area where both Indian required the dissemination of the principles men and women wanted to reform, democratise so formulated during the period of enlightenment in that gender justice may be achieved in the Indian Europe, when education was seen as a means of society. uplifting the nation. The aim was to raise the level of Savitribai Phule was one of the crusaders of knowledge and general education, so that interested gender justice. Born in 1831, Savitri Bai Phule got parties could draw from a reservoir of trained married to Jotiba Phule in 1840 at an early age of 09 workers and state administrators. The British kept years only. Though she was initially illiterate, she their hands on the field of education throughout the started getting education after marriage Vol (2), Issue-1, March-2015 IJISSHR 1 International Journal of Innovative Social Science & Humanities Research ISSN: 2349-1876 1 She Passed third and fourth year examination from First public Til-Gul programme was a school in 1846-47. Savitribai had been given a arranged by Mahila Seva Mandal on 14th January, book by a Christian missionary before her marriage 1852 in which she took active part along with her which she brought with her to her in-laws house. husband. Their family was honoured by British This shows the attraction she had for words and government for their works in the field of education books despite being uneducated. Jyotirao Phule’s and Savtribai was declared as the best teacher in maternal cousin sister Saguna worked as a nanny for 1852. Savitribai also learnt English language. When a British officer’s son. She therefore understood and Revenue Commissioner went to school for was able to converse in English. She used this inspection, where Savitribai was engrossed in knowledge to inspire JyotiRao and savitribai . In teaching, then he praised her lot and Savitribai also order to understand and appreciate the life and spoke English to him into simple manner. work of Savitri bai Phule, we must know that her thoughts were shaped and moulded by her husband Savitribai's remarkable influence through jotitrao and her aunt- in-law Sagunabai. her teaching and writings is evident in an essay by her 11-year-old student Muktabai, which was Savitribai’s passion for female education published in the paper Dyanodaya, in 1855. The started by starting a school with Sagunabai in essay, to which a chapter has been devoted in this Maharwada in 1847. Later on, on 1st January 1948, book, is called 'Mang Maharachya Dukhvisayi', which Country's first school for girls was started at Bhide's translates as 'Grief of the Mangs and Mahars', two wada in Pune and Savitribai was nominated as the dalit caste groups that were exploited in the first head mistress of the school. She was appointed Maharashtra of those times. The essay is deemed to as a teacher, at the time when teaching of girls was be among the earliest surviving documentations by a supposed to be an unholy, unheard of thing, woman writer of the atrocities committed against moreover an affront to traditional honour. untouchables, and is gripping even in English translation. The writer's lambasting of the caste In times when women were treated no system, and the religion that upholds it, reveals the better than the cattle at home, Savitribai Phule 'potential explosiveness' of education that the earned the distinction of being the first Indian Phules were so keen to create. woman to become a teacher. For this she undertook training at Ms. Farar’s Institution at Ahmednagar and It was only after acted for spreading in Ms. Mitchell’s school in Pune. “The first Indian to education to the women, Savitribai took head on to place universal, child sensitive, intellectually critical, other taboos of the society which victimized the and socially reforming education at the very core of women lot for long. the agenda for all children in India”, is how Wolf and Andrade describe her in their paper. She faced Savitribai was probably one of the first severe opposition from almost all sections. Savitribai published woman in modern India, and was able to was subject to intense harassment everyday as she develop her own voice and agency at a time when walked to the school. Stones, mud and dirt were women of all classes were ruthlessly suppressed and flung at her as she passed. But Savitribai Phule faced lived a sub-human existence. Savitribai was a "Vidya everything courageously. Jyoti" for all those who want to do something in the field of education. Savitribai’s writing were an independent expression. Her poetic zeal and literary merits are also beyond any doubt and debate. Her 1 Braj Rajan Mani & Pamela Sardar, “the forgotten writings demonstrates the influence of folk songs, liberator; the life and struggle of Savitribai Phule” bhakti, poetry and the shayari from (ballad Mountain Peak, New Delhi, 1988, p.29; Gail Omvedt. literature). Though, she selected traditional forms, 2 | Vol (2), Issue-1, March-2015 IJISSHR International Journal of Innovative Social Science & Humanities Research ISSN: 2349-1876 >syrs gSa nq[k &'kwnzksa dh [kkfrj Ssss she consistently propagated the modern values such स्त्रियⴂ as humanism, liberty, equality, brotherhood and rationalism through her writings. The uniqueness of her writings gets underlined when compared and she further wrote : contrasted with her contemporaries’ work Þ ftuds dkj.k djrh gw¡ eSa dfork Savitribai's poems and other writings are ftudh d`ik ls fpÙk dks vkuan gS feyrk still an inspiration to others. Two books of her ftuls feyh gS cqf++) jl lkfo=kh dks poems were published, Kavya Phule in 1934 yk[k&yk[k iz.kke djrh gw¡ Loa; tksrhjko dksAÞ and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1982.2 .Savitribai, had also poetic bent of mind and there Savitribai said, “ work hard, study well, and can not be opinions about her poetic contribution in do good” she constantly underscored in the Marathi literature. ‘Kavyafule’ is the first collection importance of education and physical work for of poems of Savitribai, published in 1854. She knowledge and properity. She felt that women must discussed many important subjects in these poems receive an education as they were in no way inferior like education, caste distinction and child welfare to men; they were not the slaves of men. along with the subjects of social reform. Savitribai has placed the importance of education through her Savitribai Phule was the mother of modern poems. Education to her was an important poetry stressing necessity of English and education instrument to bring up humanism and to eradicate through her poems. Her first collection of poems – the evil spirit in human beings . Kavya Phule – was published in 1854. In one of the poems named ’Agyan’ Savitribai Go, Get Education wrote:- Be self-reliant, be industrious एक ही शत्रुहमारा Work, gather wisdom and riches, उसे भगाएँ सब ममलकर उसके मसवा नहीीं है दजू ा All gets lost without knowledge खोजो मन मᴂ सोचो We become animal without wisdom, सुनो गौर से उसका नाम Sit idle no more, go, get education अज्ञान End misery of the oppressed and forsaken, You’ve got a golden chance to learn Savitribai expressed great respect as a social So learn and break the chains of caste.