Hailed as a pioneer in women's education, Savitribai Phule and her husband, social reformer Jyotirao Phule started what is believed to be India’s first school for girls here 171 years ago.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among those who paid tributes to this remarkable woman on her birth anniversary on Friday.
Born on January 3, 1831, at Naigaon in Satara district of Maharashtra, Savitribai married Jyotirao at the age of nine, and moved to Pune with him.
Her husband, fired by modern ideas and a reformist zeal, taught her to read and write. Savitribai took a teachers' training course and became a qualified teacher in 1847. The couple then started a school for girls in Bhidewada in Pune city in 1848, and she became its first teacher.
The couple had to face tremendous harassment from conservative elements who found the idea of women' education repugnant.
They faced ostracism; it is said that Savitribai carried a spare saree with her because people sometimes threw stones and dung at her as walked to the school.
Actor Renuka Shahane referred to this in her tweet on Friday.”Savitribai Phule carried an extra saree because trolls of that time would pelt her with dung & stones for breaking caste & gender barriers to get educated & to educate the marginalised. Her resistance paved the way for the education we take for granted today,” Shahane said.
Savitribai and her husband were instrumental in setting up Rs Satyashodhak Samaj' (Society of Truth-seekers), which championed progressive ideas, denounced the dowry custom and encouraged marriage without exchange of dowry.