Foraging the Nationalist Movement through Women’s Education: Decoding Savitribai Phule and the Cultural-reformist Critique of Caste

Abstract

Savitribai Phule is regarded as one of the towering figures of the nationalist movement for her pioneering role in women’s education which set the stage for the cultural renaissance of our motherland. Her passionate struggle for women’s empowerment, to build up the equality for men and women made possible for the growth of nationalist movement against the colonial rule. Savitribai dedicated her entire life to fight against the rigid patriarchal structures of the caste system with the help of her husband Jyotirao Phule through the establishment of the Satysodhak Samaj in Maharashtra that initiated the progress of women hailing from diverse corners of the society. The seed for social equality sowed against the practice of untouchability and cultural deprivation marked a ‘paradigm shift’ of such alternative principles with respect to tradition that brought women into the mainstream society. Sociologists interested in social movements have often conveyed about the guidelines of this “truth seeking” program as facilitating the creation a counter- ideological rubric of humanity that could be achieved only through the total annihilation of the Brahaminacal system. The present article intends to reflect upon Savitribai’s role in the work of this culturally homogenous and pluralist organization whose novel character helped in inducing a political upheaval replacing the patriarchal hegemony of caste by a new secure tradition.