Question

How did Jyotirao, the reformer justify his criticism of caste inequality in society?

Answer 1

• Jyotirao Phule had established schools for girls in Maharashtra.
• Jyotirao Phule was concerned about humiliation of the low castes, the miseries of the labourer, and plight of upper-caste women.
• Jyotirao Phule received his education in schools established by Christian Missionaries. He was born in 1827.
• Jyotirao Phule was one of the most vocal amongst low caste leaders.
• He developed his own ideas, as he grew up, about the injustices meted out through the caste system in the society.
• He was against the claims made by the Brahmans that they were superior to other people as they were Aryans.
• Jyotirao Phule put forth the argument that Aryans subjugated the true children of the country who lived in the country even before the arrival of Aryans. He said Aryans came from outside the subcontinent and they were foreigners.
• As per Phule, as the Aryans defeated the population that already lived in the country, they were treated as inferior, and Aryans began to establish their dominance by treating others as low caste people.
• Phule argued that in reality indigenous people, the so-called low castes, owned the land and upper caste people had no right to wield power and claim their lands.
• As per claims made by Jyotirao Phule, the land was tilled by warrior-peasants and the countryside in Maratha was ruled in fair and just ways. He claimed it was the golden age which existed before the arrival of Aryans.
• To challenge caste discrimination, he proposed unity among untouchables (Ati Shudras) and (labouring castes) Shudras.
• Caste equality was propagated by Satyashodhak Samaj, an association Phule founded.
• Caste reform movement was taken forward in the in the twentieth century by other dalit leaders like E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in the south and Dr B.R. Ambedkar in western India.
• Phule dedicated his book named Gulamgiri to all the Americans who fought against slavery, it was written in 1873. He thus established a link between conditions of black slaves in America and “lower” castes in India.