Abstract

India has witnessed a waves of counter cultural movements that professed and propagated a worldview that was radically opposed the vedic -brahmanic celebration of caste and patriarchy. In Indian society caste as an institutionalized exploitation both at material and structural level, rules the devastation of ideological, social, economical, political and cultural spaces of dalit and adivasi since thousand of years by its ascriptive value system of brahmanical religion through overt and covert ways. Despite this structural violence, we have legacy to resist and assert. Satyashodhak women (Savitribai Phule, Fatima Shekh, Mukta Salve and Tarabai Shinde) were the significant front link for that chain who have had shaken the bottom of iniquitous society by critical intervention into it. Their immense contribution has actually been given different articulation or different notion of consciousness around caste and gender. They defines oppressive orthodoxy and challenged the status quo maintained by the entrenched vested interests for the sake of controlling women’s sexuality in order to safeguard and prevent any mis intervention which ultimately cause destruction of caste hierarchy. This article is trying to excavate the historical contribution of Satyashodhak women in unraveling the suppressive submission of marginalized especially lower caste women by challenging the authority and legitimacy of the dominant oppressive regimes, not in terms of contribution in mere informative language but in terms of new way of reconstructing their theory of shaping counter culture of emancipation. The further scope of article extent by discovering the Satyashodhak women as a knowledge producer who shattered the dominant brahmanical knowledge tyranny and self became the producer of new  knowledge which led the construction of new epistemology of anti caste movement.

INTRODUCTION

Caste System Before Satyashodhak Samaj

In the Peshwa-dominated Maharashtra of the eighteenth century, the after-effects of which spilled over into British rule, the domination of Chitpavan Brahmins over the lower-castes has been traced minutely in all its ramifications by Uma Chakravarti, Gail Omvedt and others. Uma Chakravarti commendable work especially shows that no amount of theorising on the mutuality, cohesiveness and harmonious interdependence of various castes can mask the underlying reality of the oppressive, exploitative and degrading ideology of caste that reposes the highest material, ritual and social power in the person of the Brahmin and condemns the Sudras and particularly the untouchables to the other end of the spectrum where deprivation and denigration are their lots. (Chakravarti, U. 2004)

The Phule lived in Maharashtra at a time, when the closely enmeshed religious, political and social structures were under the control of Brahmanical and caste feudal forces. Caste structure subjugated toiling castes and communities, exploiting their labour. (Stephen, C. 2015) The condition of untouchable women was as vulnerable as animals in the endogamous deplorable social structure. To keep control over women’s sexuality and chastity Sati pratha, child marriages, the prohibition on widow remarriages, head shaving e.t.c. these kinds of rituals were professed and promoted by wily brahmins and their allied castes to maintain sealed caste stratification. In that time though learning was not formally prohibited to the lower orders, the privileged caste did everything in its capacity to stop children of the lower caste from pursuing education.

Jotirao Phule was responsible for the emergence of radical anti-caste politics in the 19th century. He gave birth to the idea of community which was based on the principle of truth, which he named Satyashdhak Samaj (A truth-seeking community). It is very much essential to talk about Satyashodhak Samaj, its vision and methodology as a premise for the contribution which has given by all Satyashodhak women from an anti-caste perspective in reconstructing their own way of emancipation.

The emergence of Satyashodhak Samaj: A rise of Anti-caste Radicalism

The British colonialism and its various spins off, its impact on social, economic and political relations, an emerging discourse of European idea of society and democracy, changing the form of egalitarian Hindu dharma and the Christian missionaries campaign against Hinduism provided the background and context in which Phule’s anti-caste ideology took radical shape. (Mani, B. R. 2005)

Despite the demise of the Peshwai and the advent of British rule, society was still dominated by brahminical values and powerful forces. Phule strongly realized the need for a building of counter-revolutionary ideology in people’s mind those are forced to become submissive to dominant power hegemony. He always used the word Brahmanism for Hinduism, as he understood the world view of the Brahmans. “As the toiling castes lived and worked within the political, social and ritual relationships laid down by the brahmans, they unwittingly succumbed to the interests of the Brahmans themselves”. With this perception, Phule’s attack on Brahmanism was radically different from an earlier sporadic attempts to eradicate caste discrimination. (ibid)

A vision of a new society

Phule had a vision of fundamental change in society. He believed that the oppressed caste who constitute the overwhelming majority of the Indian population should not be associated with Brahmanic organization instead based on the principles of equity/castelessness, rationality, and justice. Phule places both clean Shudras and untouchable Ati-shudras in the larger community of oppressed and gives Mahars and mangs the central place in it. He argued that the disability and exploitation suffered by an untouchable, Brahmanical system is the phenomenon responsible for it. (ibid)

The methodology used by Phule in shaping counter culture

For Phule, the subversion of Brahmanical religion and culture was not an end itself. Rather it was the starting point of an alternative reconstruction. According to him, this could be only possible through replacing the religion with old one, as he believed in the thought that human and society needed a religion which is based on rationality and symbiotic to a relationship of humanity and morality. He wrote “Sarvatrik Satya Dharma Book” (A Book of True Faith) and expressed his views on religion and culture which should be compassionate and egalitarian.

First method Phule used was the rewriting of history and mythology. Phule emphasized on recording history for desired social transformation. The ideological mainspring of Brahmanical power and hegemony lay in the ancient scripture and religious literature. Hence it was necessary to expose its design of dominance. The second method he widely accelerates is the weapon of Education as the way out of emancipation and empowerment. He believed that to change the existing power structure education is the only essential and enduring way. The acquisition of knowledge by the oppressed was emancipatory and his pedagogy was informed by a clear understanding of knowledge and power. (ibid)

Emphasizing on Education especially education to women in order to empower their social conditions was one of powerful and successful attempt made by Phule. And the Savitri was born as a first Satyashodhak Women from the Phule’s emancipatory vision of Satyashodhak Samaj.

Savitribai Phule

Savitribai Phule, she is known for us as a first modern Feminist, first Educationalist, first women Liberator and with many more adjectives as she was responsible for building a foundation of reconstruction of counter culture against caste and gender subordination from an anti-caste perspective. She was the one who led the path of emancipation by challenging brahminical knowledge tyranny.

The story of struggles for education and free life from caste and patriarchal oppression for Indian women cannot be narrated without mentioning the role of Savitribai Phule. A woman from the shudra community had earned for herself the distinction of being the first women teacher of the country. During her long and illustrious public life, she also published four books, including two volumes of poetry. She successfully headed the Satyashodhak Samaj after the death of Mahatma Phule and broke new ground in socio-cultural creativity. (Stephen, C. 2015)

Highlighting the immense contribution  

(Sardar, P. 2015), noted that Savitribai Phule was not only fulfilling the role of the wife in Jotirao’s life but has become a very important ally in his vision of Satyashodhak Samaj. With the push of Jotirao, Savitribai along with Fatima Sheikh studied in the formal school in Ahmednagar also trained under Jotirao’s personal teaching and did quite well. Later Savitribai and Fatima got trained as teachers and run their schools which they started for shudra and ati shudra girls in 1848.

Teacher

As a teacher, Savitribai has built a remarkable influence on her student’s mind. Although her journey as a teacher was not as simple as one could imagine. She has suffered opposition and rejection from almost every part of society. Savitribai was subjected to intense harassment every day as she walked to school. She was often abused and harassed with stone, mud, and dirt flung by a group of men with orthodox belief who opposed education for women. Mukta Salve was the outcome of her efforts (I elaborated her contribution in the later part of the paper). When teachers appointed on school gave up because of low salaries, Savitribai was the one who notably devoted herself to the improvement of female education without remuneration. (Omvedt, G. 2015)

Critical analysis of Savitribai’s role as a teacher –

Savitribai has opened up a new way for counter-revolution against Brahmanical and patriarchal structure. She used the tool of education as a means of emancipation for all shudra and ati shudra girls/women. She emphasized on girls education because seeking truth about one’s own social realities can only possible through it. She has a greater aim in front of her. The giving knowledge to those who have been deprived since centuries and centuries, especially lower caste women/girls, who caught in the burden of caste and patriarchy.  She wrote,

“Formally, we were buried alive in the foundation of buildings… we were not allowed to read and write…. God has bestowed on us the rule of the British and our grievances are redressed..Nobody harasses us now. Nobody hangs us. Nobody buries us alive. Our progeny can live now.” (ibid)

What did she want to theorize by writing this stanza? To articulate it, I would like to quote here Rene Descartes line, “I think therefore I am”. (Descartes, R. 1970). Particularly in the Indian context, brahminical structure sustains because they humiliated, they destroyed, they devastated and therefore they are. Shudra- ati shudra and lower caste women were the one who has been humiliated, destroyed and devastated since thousand of years and henceforth Brahminical “I” is sustained. Education is that eye that enables the deprived section to understand this riddle of Hinduism and make them capable to stand, think, organize and assert.

Savitribai Phule, a first lady teacher in Maharashtra ( who also used to make a contribution in critical analysis of education field). She pointed so many reforms like appointing teachers from lower caste to students from the same background in order to get perspective from below. Savitribai was the one who has become the constructor of new epistemology which stood against caste oppression and the patriarchal dominance by brahmins by giving the counterculture through education to lower caste girls.

Thinker and Writer.

Sardar, S. & Paul, V. (2015), noted that in 1854, Savitribai published her collection of poems, called Kabya Phule ( Poetry’s Blossoms). The poems were so to say historical documents at that time written under the influence of abhang (folk form) which mainly described themes like nature, education and caste system. Then in 1891, She published another collection, called ‘Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar’( The ocean of pure Gems). It is a biography of Phule, where she wrote about Phule’s critique on brahmans for interpretation of Marathi history in the ancient and medieval periods.Later she also edited for publication, four of Jotirao’s speeches on Indian History. She also published some of her own speeches in 1892 in which she spoke about her life and women’s experiences. She wrote an essay, called ‘Karz’(Debt), in it she condemned the idea of celebrating festivals by borrowing money and thus being burned by heavy debts. She also wrote on addiction and explained how it ruined the lives of women and whole families.

Critical analysis of Savitribai’s role as Thinker and writer

On a critical note, if we trying to see Savitribai Phule as thinker and writer, then we realized she has actually produced new epistemological premise in the form of writing poems and texts which unravel caste realities of that time. She was very critical towards Brahmanical knowledge hegemony as they were the one who destroyed the epistemologies of Shudras and ati Shudras by writings wrong histories of them in order to build their own dominance. Therefore she emphasized on writing lived experiences of lower caste women and also advocated the importance of education. She also tried to understand the conditions of poor farmers and warned them to not caught in the oppression of money lenders.

Social Revolutionary

Savitribai along with Jotirao set up a home for the welfare of unwed mothers and their offsprings in 1863. She is also known to have taken the lead in organizing the boycott by the barbers against shaving the heads of the windows in the 1860s. Savitribai headed the women’s unit of the Satyashodhak Samaj. She took a lead in organizing marriages without any role of the priest. In 1870’s Phule couple actively involved in famine relief. They started 52 boarding schools for the welfare of the orphaned in the famines In the 1890s when Jotirao passed away, she was the one who lit the funeral pyre of her husband which was recorded as one of the very rare instances in the history of India. Savitribai took over the Satyashodhak Samaj after Jotirao. She presided over the meeting of the Samaj in 1893 in Saswad. In the famine of 1896, Savitribai again worked tirelessly, and successfully lobbied the government to undertake relief measures. Savitribai was also engaged in the relief efforts during the epidemic swept Pune in 1897. She died in the same affliction of plague  on March 10, 1897 (Ranade, S. 2014)

Critical analysis of Savitribai’s role as a social reformer

Savitribai Phule’s social revolution is nothing but the beginning of a silence path-breaking revolution of that time. She strongly stood against the Hindu rituals like head shaving of widow’s which was one of the attempts to keep control over women’s sexuality. She has intensively rejected the autonomy of Brahmin priest in the marriage ceremonies. After the death of Jotirao Phule, she has broken the shackles of patriarchy and lit the funeral pyre of her husband Jotirao. As a women leader of Satyashodhak Samaj, she strongly put her stand and did actions giving justice to the ideology that holds by Satyashodhak Samaj.

Fatima Sheikh

Fatima Sheikh is known as the first Muslim woman teacher of India, but like many other Indian women reformers, she has remained unknown and uncited in history. The little that is known about her comes from her association with Savitribai Phule and Mahatma Jotiba Phule. When Phule couple forced to leave their home by Jotirao’s father, Fatima Sheikh and her brother Usman Shaikh was the one who gave them a place to stay in their own house. As a Muslim woman, especially someone going against Brahminical norms, the risk she took on to herself and her family cannot be understated. Fatima not only sheltered the Phule couple from dominant caste abuse but also helped them set up the first girls’ school in her own house. Together they called the school, “Indigenous Library”. Fatima and Savitri enrolled in the same training institute to be trained as professional teachers. Fatima continued to teach and work alongside Savitri in their school until 1856.

The friendship between Fatima and Savitri was one of respect, compassion, and synergy. Relationships between Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, and Bahujans have a long history of struggle against Brahminical oppression that is often erased or misrepresented by today’s political agendas. It remains undeniable that the association of Savitribai, Jyotirao, Fatima and the Dalits, Adivasis, and Bahujan they worked with, represents a line of solidarity continuing into the contemporary call for “Unity of The Oppressed”. A call that seeks to merge the struggles of SC/ST/OBC and Religious Minorities.

Mukta Salve

Mukta Salve, an 11 years old girl, a student of Savitri Phule and Fatima Shaikh honored as the first voice of Dalit feminism. She wrote an essay, “ Mahar, manganchya dukkha vishayi” (About the grief of Mahar and Mang). In it, she intensively expressed about the atrocities on Mahar and mang during Peshwa regime. She wrote about the sacred religious texts of Hindu Dharm and how Brahman is got all sort of privileges according to it while Mahar and mang got punished very brutally even if their shadow get reflected on any upper caste. She questioned the legitimacy of Hinduism, a religion she had no access to, but was expected to follow. She analyzed how the upper-caste Brahmins manipulated religion to control the power structure within the society, by depriving the Mahar-mangs of food, clothing, shelter, and education. Further, she immensely articulated about the vulnerability of Dalit women, who had to endure childbirth without a roof over their head, or a doctor to treat them in case of complications. (Mani, B. R. 2015)

Tarabai Shinde

Tarabai Shinde was a feminist activist associated with Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule and also part of their Satyashodhak Samaj. She was famous for her book called “Stree Purush Tulana” (The Comparison of Men and Women) published in 1882. The book is considered as the first modern feminist text, which critiqued the upper caste patriarchy and challenged the Hindu religious scripture which was the main source of women’s oppression in that time. She has written inherently about the notion of patriarchy which is deeply embedded in the caste structure and ultimately led to the suppression of women. She has proven her analysis around caste and patriarchy by comparing men and women which outbursts so many edges of women’s deprivation since centuries in the hand of caste and the patriarchal behavior came out of it. O’Hanlon, R., & Śiṅde, T. (1994)

Satyashodhak Women –

The Knowledge Producers and the Constructor of a new Epistemology

Caste is the core of structural violence in India, while control over women’s sexuality lies in the heart of every structural reality.  All Satyashodhak women fought against all forms of social prejudices and the system which was very backward in case of women’s education and strongly followed the religious brahminical fundamentalism.

Revolution’ we mean deconstruction of oppressive principles, values, and orders and establishment of a society based on equity, liberty and social justice. The new discourse which consist of perspective from below. And the efforts of constructing epistemologies led by Savitri Bai Phule and then in less or more intensively by other Satyashodhak Women like Fatima Shaikh, Mukta Salve and Tarabai Shinde. They all contributed to the establishments of fundamental principles of humanity. Women of the Indian society are not aware of the greatness of Savitri Bai Phule and Fatima Shaikh, who dared to pursue the noble profession of teaching in the ‘Dark Age’. The time when women were mere objects to be used, education for women was considered no less than a punishable crime; they dared to speak against the unpardonable boundaries imposed on women in Indian society, especially on shudra and ati shudra girls/women. they ignited a million lives.

While on the other side Mukta Salve and Tarabai Shinde, both evoked waves of reactions. Their language, that proclaims, with great clarity, backed by their personal analysis of Hindu sacred texts and refusal to remain in Hindu, that the Sanskritic core of Hinduism was irrevocably and essentially anti-woman. Mukta Salve’s essay unraveled the brahminical pseudo-religion and the inhuman conditions and the indignities that were systematically thrust upon lower caste.

Stri- Purush Tulna takes the form of a diffuse and bitter polemic. It is not a reasoned, direct critique of the Hindu scriptures based on conceptual analysis, but a satirical attack on them in the language of familiarity. When Brahmanic theorist began to turn text from Ramayana and Mahabharata into the scripture of Hinduism in order to make them sacred, Tarabai attacked and reject them and unravel the patriarchal or anti-women nature of it.  She tried to create a different institutional framework with different human relations and continuously talked about low caste women, especially widows, whose position represented the direst fate of women at that time.

Concluding Note

Satyashodhak Women, the ideological- political founder of the anti-caste movement. The Maharashtrian social revolutionary presented a socio-cultural analysis that was fiercely critical of domination. They all have conceptualized the fact which stated power holding deeply embedded in knowledge production. Since centuries and centuries Shudra and ati- Shudra’s, especially women from bottom strata remains oppressed to the extent because they all were living someone else’s truth and exploited or discriminated under the knowledge hegemony of dominant caste, who in a real sense has been defined the socio-political, economic and cultural order of lower castes in order to suppress them. Therefore all Satyashodhak women have been stressed upon writing all lived realities and lived context which comes out of lived experiences in order to create their own theories, their own knowledge. All were thoroughly engaged in writings or producing in the form of text, poetry, stories, essays, articles, etc. with constituted perspective from below and henceforth all Satyashodhak Women should proudly call to be Knowledge Producers.

Satyashodhak women, an ideologue – social reformers, unlike any other at that time in India, grappled with almost all important questions facing society- religion, caste, politics, education, language, literature, gender question, brahminical patriarchy, the state of agriculture, mass poverty and many more. Their range of concerns and ideas was broader and deeper than that of any other women leaders of the Nineteenth century. A constructor of new epistemology and the new knowledge producer from the perspective from below.

References

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Mani, B. R., (2015). A Revolt of a Dalit Girl: An Essay by a Student of the Phule’s School. In Mani, B. R., & Sardar, P. (Eds.).A Forgotten Liberator: The Life and Structure of Savitribai Phule (pp- 70-76 ). Mountain Peak.

Sites

http://www.bamu.ac.in/ts-wsc/AboutWomensStudyCenter/AboutTarabaiShinde.aspx

Mukta Salve: The First Female Dalit Writer | #IndianWomenInHistory

https://www.countercurrents.org/chimurkar111215.htm