selected writings of

Jotirao Phule edited, with annotations and introduction, by

G.P. Deshpande

selected writings of Jotirao Phule

selected writings of Jotirao Phule

Edited, with annotations and introduction, by G.P. Deshpande

First published January 2002 Seventh impression, twentieth anniversary edition, January 2022 Digital print edition, January 2022 LeftWord Books 2254/2A Shadi Khampur New Ranjit Nagar New Delhi 110008 INDIA Translations and Editor’s Introduction © 2002, LeftWord Books LeftWord Books and Vaam Prakashan are imprints of Naya Rasta Publishers Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 978-81-87496-88-5

For all the shudratishudras of various colours and hues including the organized ones!

Contents

Acknowledgements 9 Note on the Selection 10 Of Hope and Melancholy: Reading Jotirao Phule in Our Times by G.P. Deshpande

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Slavery 39 Preface 41 Introduction 53 Jotirao and Dhondiba’s Dialogue 66 Memorial Addressed to the Education Commission A Statement for the information of the Education Commission

133 134

Cultivator’s Whipcord 147 Contents 149 Prologue 151 Chapter First 155 Chapter Second 170 Chapter Third 182 Chapter Fourth 202 Chapter Fifth 223 Appendices 235 On Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood Opinion from Jotteerao Govindrao Phulay on Note No. I, by Mr. B.M. Malabari on Infant Marriage in India Opinion from Jotteerao Govindrao Phulay on Note No. II, by Mr. B.M. Malabari on Enforced Widowhood 7

242 244 246

Letter to the Conference of Marathi Authors

249

Satsar 252 Preface 254 Satsar Number 1 255 Preface 266 Satsar Number 2 267 From The Book of the True Faith 277 Contents 279 Brief Chronology of Jotirao Phule’s Life 291 Further Readings 292 Translators 295

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Acknowledgements

I did the first systematic reading of the complete works of Phule in 1990. The occasion was the seminar on Phule in Surat on the occasion of his death centenary. I spoke there on the basis of notes. For various reasons I could not write out my presentation there in full although some points did figure here and there in my writing. The introduction to this volume draws very heavily on those notes. The second time I turned to Phule was when Jana Natya Manch, a theatre group in Delhi, asked me to write a play on Phule. The play, called Satyashodhak, was about the life and times of Jotirao Phule, and. It has since been published in Marathi. I must thank the editorial board of LeftWord Books for providing me with this opportunity of revisiting Phule the third time. Over the last year or so I have been in the company of Phule, a pleasant but by no means easy job. I must thank my fellowtranslators Maya Pandit, Urmila Bhirdikar and Aniket Jaaware. It is not easy to translate Phule. But they have worked hard. We hope that at least some flavour of Phule’s Marathi comes across in our translations. They gave me complete freedom in editing their translations. Ram Bapat read the Introduction and made incisive comments. Moloyashree Hashmi read the entire manuscript with diligence and care, and helped improve the translation. She also helped prepare the index. Members of LeftWord staff worked hard to produce this elegant volume. Lastly, thanks are due to Sudhanva Deshpande of LeftWord for his supervision of all details of this volume, and his untiring editorial work. But for his interest and dedication this volume would never have been ready. G.P. Deshpande

9

Note on the Selection

In this volume we have included the major prose writing of Jotirao Phule. At the centre of his writing and thought are Gulamgiri and Shetkaryacha Asud. The full text of both has been translated and published here. Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Pustak repeats some of the themes that appear in his two major books, we have therefore not included the entire text of this work, but only some selections. Minor editing has also been done in Satsar. Portions left out are indicated by [. . .]. There are several short pieces which he wrote from time to time in response to specific questions of immediate import. We have not included those pieces as well. Further, there are some personal writings, his will for instance, which again do not find a place in this selection. All his poetry has been excluded from this selection. There are several reasons for this. One, of course, is the cost factor: we wanted a volume that is affordable for the lay reader. Then there is the problem of translation. Phule is very hard to translate, even when he writes prose, because he uses language politically (for more on this, see our Introduction). His poetry is, understandably, even more difficult to translate. Quite apart from the difficulties of translation, a deep familiarity with the seventeenth-century poet Tukaram is called for to relate to Phule’s poetic work. As in the case of Bhakti poetry, his poems are also meant to spread a message at a popular level. The message, clearly, is that which is articulated in Gulamgiri and Asud. The same is true of his play. It is intended to be an enactment at a popular level of his otherwise serious theses. All this does not mean, of course, that these works need not be translated. All of Phule should be translated and made available in English. And, hopefully, one day he will be. There are some texts that Phule wrote in English. They are reprinted here in the original form (including original spellings, capitalization, etc.) and indicated as such. Where there are missing 10

note on the selection

words in the English original, these are indicated in square brackets. The other texts are translations done for this volume from Mahatma Phule Samagra Vangmaya (Collected Works of Mahatma Phule), Mumbai: Maharashtra State Publication, first edition edited by Dhananjay Keer and S.G. Malshe, 1969; fourth edition edited by Y.D. Phadke, 1991. In the rare instance where a minor discrepancy was observed in the text of the two editions, the 1991 edition has been followed. The translator of each individual piece is identified. To indicate Marathi words, italicization has been done on the following principle: all words that appear in several Indian languages, and are therefore likely to be understood by most Indian readers appear in roman, while all words that are more or less unique to Marathi are italicized. Thus, for instance, vari is italicized, but not yatra. Also italicized are words that may be confused with English words: thus, gram (village) is italicized. Caste names are not italicized: thus sutar, when it refers to the caste, appears in roman. Each text in this selection is prefaced by a short introduction by the editor which places the text in context. The texts are chronologically arranged. There are two sets of notes that appear in these selections. The notes by Phule himself appear as footnotes at the bottom of the page. The notes and annotations by the editor and translators appear as a separate series in the left and right margins. Within these, translators’ notes are identified as such; the unidentified notes are by the editor.

11

Of Hope and Melancholy Reading Jotirao Phule in Our Times

G.P. Deshpande

I Let us begin with Jotirao’s name, or more precisely, its spelling. His name is a Marathi or Prakrit form of the Sanskrit word jyoti (light or flame, also a star). The classical, or brahmanical if you will, spelling would be Jyotirao. He, however, always spelt it Jotirao.1 (Rao is an honorific in Marathi, presumably a South Indian influence.) He is also often referred to as Jotiba, with the ‘ba’ being an affectionate suffix. His father was called Govindrao, and that, following Maharashtrian custom, became his middle name. His last name is spelt differently in different places. The cover of his book Shetkaryacha Asud (Cultivator’s Whipcord) has Phuley. His deposition before the Hunter Commission is signed Phooley (with the ‘oo’ as in book and not as in moot). The Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Pustak (The Book of the True Faith) spells it as Fule. This is clearly wrong, since the first letter is ‘ph’ rather than ‘f ’. But this work was published posthumously, and the spelling is probably Yashwantrao Phule’s (Jotirao’s adopted son and publisher of the book). Jotirao himself has used both Phuley and Phooley. His biographer, Dhananjay Keer, has used Phooley. But much of subsequent writing on him (including that by Rosalind O’Hanlon) 1 See Dhananjay Keer and S.G. Malshe, Introduction, Mahatma Phule Samagra Vangmaya, Mumbai: Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya ani Sanskriti Mandal, 1969, p. xxxii. This was the first edition; the fourth edition, edited by Y.D. Phadke, appeared in 1991. There has appeared another edition since. We have, however, used the 1991 edition as the basis for our translations.

13

selected writings of jotirao phule

uses Phule, and since that is the spelling that seems now to have become standardized, that is what we shall be using here. The original name of the family, however, was not Phule, but Gorhe. This family was from a small, insignificant village, Lalgun, in Satara district. A dramatic development forced Phule’s great grandfather to flee Lalgun. The family were victims of oppression by the brahman revenue official of the area. When the oppression crossed all limits, it appears that Jotirao’s ancestor murdered the official and the family ran for its life. They settled down near Pune and took to horticulture which was, in any case, their casteprofession. They belonged to the mali (gardener) caste, taken to be one of the shudra castes in Maharashtra. They became florists by appointment to the brahman ruler of Pune, the Peshwa, who gave them some land just outside the city of Pune. This florist family then acquired the name Phule (after phul, flower). Jotirao’s date of birth is uncertain. An old lady close to the family has recorded that Jotirao used to say that he was born a day before the devastating fire in the Shanivar Vada (the palace of the Peshwas). If that is true, his birth date would be 20 February 1828. This, however, cannot be confirmed. The editors of Phule’s Collected Works, as well as his biographer Keer, accept 1827 as the year of his birth, and claim that this is traditionally accepted. But the tradition does not seem to be decisive. Acharya Javadekar, for instance, states in his history of modern India2 that he was born in 1828, and does not even mention 1827 as a possible date. There is almost no good biography of Phule. What biographical writing exists is for the most part hagiography and propaganda material.3 Consequently, Phule’s writings, the movements he led, and the organizations he created are to be treated as his biography. It is generally believed that Jotirao had passed the matriculation examination. This probably means no more than saying that he 2 Acharya Javadekar, Adhunik Bharat (first published 1938), Pune: Continental Prakashan, 1979. 3 The exception, of course, is Keer’s biography, first published in Marathi (in 1964) and then in English, and the interested reader can look at it for virtually all the known details of Phule’s life. Dhananjay Keer, Mahatma Jotirao Phooley: Father of Indian Social Revolution, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 2000.

14

introduction

successfully completed his middle school education. When he left school in 1848, there was no matriculation examination. Bombay University, which conducted this examination, was set up only in 1857. By 1848, when Phule completed his secondary school education, his father had become a successful building contractor. Jotirao did not need a job. The family business gave him enough financial support. He read Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man in 1847. The deep and lasting connection between English reformism and Indian social reformers/revolutionaries is too well known to need comment or elaboration here. One point, however, may still be made. With the exception of Phule, as we shall see, virtually all other social reformers/revolutionaries stayed constrained by the limits imposed upon them by the rather weak English branch of European liberalism, exemplified most of all by Mill and Spencer. Phule established the first school anywhere in India for shudratishudra4 girls in 1848. His father Govindrao was shocked, and feared, not unreasonably, high-caste backlash. Jotirao and Savitribai, whom he had married in 1840 and who taught in this school, had to leave Govindrao’s house. Jotirao, however, was not one to cave in tamely. In 1851, he established another school, this time for girls of all castes. This was followed by an evening school for working people in 1855. By now, Jotirao’s activities were causing a furore. An attempt was made on his life in 1856. Phule’s activities extended beyond the field of education. The drinking water tank in his house was thrown open to untouchables. This would be considered a brave act even today. In 1868, it was revolutionary. No high caste or bhadralok reformer had ever done such a thing. Phule was not one for empty rhetoric. He believed that revolutionary thought has to be backed by revolutionary praxis. Further, none among the nineteenth century reformers had so sensitively thought about the gender question. That is the reason why his first school was for shudratishudra girls. He followed it up in 1860 with a campaign for widow remarriage. For most other reformers of his time, this was a matter of theory and reform. For Phule, it was a matter of praxis and revolution. His writing from 4 Shudra and atishudra. Atishudra would be ‘dalit’ in contemporary language. Gandhi’s term for atishudra was ‘harijan’ (God’s people).

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‘G.P. Deshpande makes a brilliant attempt to foreground Phule’s system of ideas in a series of tough arguments. . . . [This book] will prompt some of us to liberate Phule from self-serving cultural symbolism and situate him in the tradition of self-criticism, which was one of Phule’s core intellectual projects.’ – Gopal Guru, Economic and Political Weekly Jotirao Phule (1827-1890) was India’s first systematic theorist of caste, and the most radical 19th-century opponent of it, who desired nothing less than a complete smashing up of its oppressive structure. This volume makes available all his most important prose writings in English. At the centre of Phule’s thought and analysis are Gulamgiri (Slavery) and Shetkaryacha Asud (Cultivator’s Whipcord), both included in this volume in their entirety. Also included are Phule’s deposition to the Hunter Commission on Education; his response to the Parsi social reformer Malabari’s notes on ‘Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood’; his letter to M.G. Ranade regarding the Marathi Authors’ Conference; his stirring defence of Pandita Ramabai in two numbers of the journal Satsar; and selections from The Book of the True Faith. All translations have been specially commissioned for this richly annotated volume, and the Editor’s Introduction places Phule’s life, work, and thought, as well as each text included in this volume, in historical perspective. For anyone interested in the question of caste, this volume is an indispensable resource. ‘This excellent volume is a must-have for anyone interested in the questions relating to caste, class and gender. In his Introduction, G.P. Deshpande speaks of the hope and melancholy of our times; reading Phule embellishes us with the necessary faith and rejuvenation.’ – Meena Kandasamy, Biblio

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