Savitribai Phule Jayanthi

 Savitribai Phule Jayanthi

Savitribai Phule was born on 3 January 1831 in the village of Naigaon in Satara District, Maharashtra. Her birthplace was about five kilometers from Shirval and about 50 kilometers from Pune. Savitribai Phule was the eldest daughter of Lakshmi and Khandoji Nevase Patil, both of whom belonged to the Mali Community.

Savitribai and Jotirao had no children of their own. It is said that they adopted Yashawantrao, a son born to a Brahmin widow. However, there is no original evidence available yet to support this.She was an Indian social reformer, educationalist, and poet from Maharashtra. She is regarded as the first female teacher of India. Along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she played an important and vital role in improving women's rights in India. She is regarded as the mother of Indian feminism. Phule and her husband founded one of the first Indian girls' school in Pune, at Bhide wada in 1848.^[a] She worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender. She is regarded as an important figure of the social reform movement in Maharashtra.

At the time of her marriage Savitribai was an illiterate. Jyotirao educated Savitribai at their home. After completing her primary education with Jyotirao, her further education was the responsibility of his friends, Sakharam Yeshwant Paranjpe and Keshav Shivram Bhavalkar. She also enrolled herself in two teacher's training programs. The first was at institution run by an American missionary, Cynthia Farrar, in Ahmednagar. The second course was at a Normal School in Pune.Given her training, Savitribai may have been the first Indian woman teacher and headmistress.^[1] Savitribai's birthdate, i.e. 3 January, is celebrated as Balika Din in the whole of Maharashtra, especially in Girl's Schools.

Savitribai and her adopted son, Yashwant, opened a clinic to treat those affected by the worldwide Third Pandemic of the bubonic plague when it appeared in the area around Nalasopara in 1897. The clinic was established at stern outskirts of Pune, in an area free of infection. Savitribai died a heroic death trying to save the son of Pandurang Babaji Gaekwad. Upon learning that Gaekwad’s son had contracted the Plague in the Mahar settlement outside of Mundhwa, Savitribai Phule rushed to his side and carried him on her back to the hospital. In the process, Savitribai Phule caught the Plague and died at 9:00pm on 10 March 1897.