The Phule We Remember: As Remembered by Gyanoba Krishnaji Sasane
(1) Christian Baba Pantoji, who compiled an English and Marathi dictionary, was also the publisher of the periodical Satyadeepika.[1]The author here is referring to the writer and Protestant Christian reformer Baba Padmanji. Brahmins used to publish periodicals but they never entertained our correspondence. In that regard, it is educational to read the answers Tatyasaheb received when he sent his book Gulamgiri to the periodicals for printing.
It is well-known how the Brahmins looked down upon non-Brahmins at that time. When Tatyasaheb was young, Lahuji Bua Mang who was proficient in playing dandpatta, had a training arena in Pune’s Janai Mala. As (Brahmin) people would mock him for the same, his Brahmin friends at the time like R. B. Sadashiv Ballal Govande, R. R. Sakharam Yashwant Paranjape and R. R. Moro Vitthal Walvekar became adept at playingdandpatta with Lahuji Mang. These Brahmins mentioned above remained his friends till the end and they would always help Tatyasaheb. Articles about our Satyashodhak [Samaj] would be published in the Subodh magazine now and then. Nowadays, a Brahmin lawyer from Prabhu caste has given good information about Satyashodhak Samaj and Tatyasaheb. Some of my articles and essays about Satyashodhak Samaj were also published in Dnyanprakash and Dinbandhu — the latter used to be published by Krishnarao Bhalekar earlier.
(2) Yashvantrao Phule studied medicine in Pune but where exactly [in Pune] I don’t remember. But he was a doctor with the 12th Platoon. The platoon was first stationed at Koyta, which later moved to Ahmednagar. At the time Pune was witnessing the plague and his mother [Savitribai Phule] contracted it. So he came down to meet her. She passed away too. He then returned to Ahmednagar after performing all the rituals. He too contracted plague there and passed away. Approximately ten to twelve years must have passed since then. I do not know the name of Tatyasaheb’s father-in-law or brother-in-law. They were our relatives, named Zagade.
(4) I don’t know Yashvantrao Phule’s daughter’s name. But she [Yashvantrao’s wife?] got her daughter married without informing any of us. She is in Pune. She, meaning Yashvantrao’s wife, sold Tatyasaheb’s big house for 300 rupees. That house was recently bought for 1,500 rupees by our Mali caste folks for running Satyashodhak’s boarding school for orphans. It is going well now.
(5) He [Jotirao Phule] would rarely go to villages. But he would correspond extensively with people through letters. Many visitors would come from the districts of Pune, Ahmednagar, Satara, Nashik, Solapur, because of which they were well-acquainted with the principles of the Satyashodhak Samaj.
(6) Six to seven years before his death, Tatyasaheb was invited by Gaekwad Maharaj [Sayajirao Gaekwad III] who, I was told, would listen to his lectures with interest.
(7) One big dignitary from the Konkan was employed as diwan (revenue officer or executive). I don’t remember his name.
(8) I do not know the name of Yashvantrao’s biological mother. He was taken into care as an orphan. He was adopted [by the Phules] after the fulfillment of all due processes. Earlier, when the widows of Brahmins and Marathas used to go astray, no one would shelter them. After consulting with his friends, he took care of as many as ten to twelve children by opening an orphanage. I don’t know if Yashvantrao was one of them. That is why I gave my daughter in marriage to him, for which we had to suffer a lot. Now, there are orphanages in Mumbai, Pandharpur, Nashik and Pune. Please make use of the certificate that Tatyasaheb had given me and send it back to me very carefully after your work is done.
With the help of people from my village, we formed a co-operative bank. I was its first president. But as I was getting tired, a smart boy from my school, who I had sent to Tatyasaheb, was doing writing work for him for a year. He was known to M. Jadhavrao saheb. He has grown up, improved his life and raised children and they are doing well. We have appointed him as the president. He has been bestowed with the title of Raosaheb by the Government. In our co-operative bank, an exchange of up to two lakh rupees is permitted. It has been ten to twelve years since the bank was formed for the betterment of all farmers. Currently, there is a profit of fifty thousand in the bank. It’s in cash. The Viceroy of Hindustan had visited the bank. Last year, the Governor of Mumbai and the Governor before him also visited the bank. Everyone was very happy to see the co-operative bank.
Kind regards to all of you,
From your well-wisher Gyanoba Krishnaji Sasane
To R. R. Pandharinath Sitaram Patil,
Non-Brahmin Office, Wardha.
Heartfelt Greetings!
Two of your letters have been received. Understood the context. Currently, I am not keeping well, and my hands are shaky due to weakness. I am 75 years old and I feel weak. Anyway, I am obliged to write back to you so that I can send you some information. Please accept it.
Mahatma Jotirao Govindrao Phule was my father’s distant cousin. My wedding took place in his house, organised by the Satyashodhak Samaj, where he recited the Mangalashtak himself. He was accompanied by a few others in the recitations. The wedding faced many difficulties as well.
Back then, a servant used to work at Phule’s place. As he was very poor, Mahatma Phule got him married through the Satyashodhak Samaj at his own expense. That was the first, and mine was the second [Satyashodhak wedding]. All of this information is documented in the Satyashodhak report. It also has details about my wedding. My wedding faced a lot of obstacles. The reality of it is documented in a periodical as well.
I got married on the 6th day of the month of Vaishakh in the year 1796 (according to the Hindu calendar), on a Thursday. I was about 22 years old and my wife was 14 years old. A book can be written about the troubles I faced during my wedding.
I used to address Mahatma Phule as Tatyasaheb. Tatyasaheb would frequently take up contractual work through the government. Earlier, there were no government schools here. At that time, Tatyasaheb started schools in Pune for Mahars and Mangs. He himself studied English and Marathi and taught Marathi well to his wife. She also ran schools with him.
For this work, Tatyasaheb was honoured with shawls by the government in a ceremony, and he was also praised for it. The book written by Sitaram Raghunath Tarkunde is based on my narrative. He studied in my school from the first standard, and later I appointed him as an assistant teacher. You will get information about Tatyasaheb from that book as well as the periodicals Dinbandhu and Dinmitra.
I will search for informative documents and send them over as soon as I recover.
Faithfully in your service,
Gyanoba Krishnaji Sasane
Postscript: The help provided by the Marathas and Kunbis proved to be of great help for the establishment of the Satyashodhak Samaj. Among the current newspapers, Vijayi Maratha takes great pride in the Samaj, the Samaj is getting stronger by the day. Besides,Dinmitra has also been of great assistance. From my wedding onwards, all weddings and rituals in our village are always done the Satyashodhak way — without the Brahmin priests. The information you requested regarding Tatyasaheb’s signature etc., I will look for it and send it later. A book can be written based on all the events that transpired, since the beginning. If any of you visit Pune some time, I’ll tell you everything. M. Bhaskarrao is very proud of our Samaj. Nowadays, the upliftment of our people is taking place through Satyashodhak. God should be greatly thanked for this. My kind regards to you, and everyone at your end.
- The first Satyashodhak wedding performed was of Jotirao Phule’s dear servant Sitaram Jawaji Mali Alhat, who was one of our relatives. I have already mentioned that Jotirao through his own expenses got him married because of his poverty. Phule’s adopted son Yashvantrao Jotirao Phule was educated till matriculation before he got a job as a doctor in the platoon. It was the time of the plague. He came from Ahmednagar to visit his mother in Pune as she was suffering from plague. He immediately went back to Ahmednagar, and while he was there, he was also afflicted with the plague and died immediately. When I got my own second daughter married to this boy, I was harassed by our caste-fraternity and was ostracised too. The suffering caused by my own wedding had gradually died down. But this wedding made me suffer further. Now, all the Mali people, our caste clan of Pune, and our surrounding villages, have come together. All my daughters’ weddings were performed abiding to the Satyashodhak Samaj’s ways. Now, there are no more troubles, and my two sons have also studied well. The younger son does farm work here, while the eldest son works at a farming business at Belapur in Nagar district. Sugarcane is grown on thirty to forty acres, while the remaining hundred acres are used for grains such as wheat, jowar, bajra and harbhara (chickpea). The younger son grows sugarcane on five to six acres of land in Hadapsar, and I own four to five acres of land near the village. Both of them have sons and daughters and they are also somewhat educated. Grandsons too help their fathers in farming.
- Since Mahatma Jotirao Phule was older to me, I could not talk to him much and hence the account of real events can not be written with an imagined relationship of equals.
- Mahatma Jotirao Phule’s lectures were often held in Pune and Mumbai, and on rare occasions, in the villages. After the foundation of the Satyashodhak Samaj, the members would meet weekly in Pune. People from Pune and other places too used to attend these meetings.
- The occasion to go out with Phule anywhere would rarely arise. At times, it would. Because I would attend the weekly Samaj meetings in Pune.
- Hearing praise about the Satyashodhak Samaj, Jotirao Phule was invited to Baroda by Gaekwad Maharaj for stay. A wealthy Maratha gentleman from Konkan was working as a high official for Gaekwad Maharaj, I don’t remember exactly whether he was a Diwan or not. Since Phule and him were friends, they used to meet frequently. Once when Gaekwad Maharaj came to Pune, Mahatma Jotirao Phule informed him about my son’s education. He had provided monetary help after listening to this.
- Phule would help the poor children who came to him for help.
- One or two months after the Satyashodhak Samaj was founded, his close servant was married and then I got married.
- Providing rocks for Khadakwasla Lake was one of the government contracts Jotirao had undertaken and R. Sakharam Yashvant Paranjape was his partner in this work. At that time, I was also one of the other contractors. I provided the stones through him. Apart from that, he had taken the contract to provide lime for the Yerawada Bridge. He had also undertaken other minor works but I don’t know much. And towards the end, he had undertaken a government contract of constructing irrigation bridges. Back then, a learned gentleman called R. Ramchandra Hari was his partner. Later, the government appointed him as a Supervisor. He was also a Satyasamajian. After the Mula-Mutha contract ended, he was the Supervisor on the Bhatghar Dam, where I worked as a mason. On that occasion, I received two to four letters from M. Phule (Tatyasaheb). In the letters, he had summoned me and the task was to procure vegetables from Pune and send them to Mumbai. My share was decided to be 4 annas. I resigned from my job and arrived in Pune. But after a couple of months, he and I gave up, as the work was not going well. Later, I worked as a clerk in the Public Works Department for four months. At that time the Brahmin worker there gave me a lot of trouble. So I quit and came home. Earlier, there was a government school in our village, which was mandated to have thirty students as per the government rule, but it closed down since it could not reach the number thirty. Then the Brahmins and other groups pestered me to open a school in the village and I did. Back in the day, missionaries would visit our village. On such occasions, Miss Barnard Madam from Zenana Mission[2]This likely refers to the Church of Scotland Zenana Mission. would come to our village. She saw my school and would visit it and help me too. Two or three years later, I handed over that school to her and was looking for other work. Then Madam Saheb said, “Don’t look for other work. I will pay you a salary for this school.” So I accepted the commitment and ran the school. After she got the school registered, I was running it on her behalf. On top of my salary, she would also give half of the government grant to me. That school is currently running in our village. But I left it in the year 1892. At present, there are three schools in our village — one run by the Muslims, one by the Marathas and one by the Mission. They are all registered. Children from all castes go to that school. There is a lot more information besides this, quite capable of turning into a book. The highlights have been sent to you. Further, I will give more details when you visit. The names of two books have been sent to you — a copy of the periodical Satyadeepika with details of my wedding ceremony and a report on Satyashodhak Samaj. And after reading the books, please ensure that they are returned to me. In addition, information on Tatyasaheb is available in some other places, all of which could not be sent at this moment. This correspondence is written by someone else because of the tremors in my hands.
Dastur (Gyanoba Sasane)
Satyamev Jayate
Date: 14/03/1927
Hadapsar
Dear Proud Satyashodhak M. Pandharinath Sitaram Patil C/o Brahmnetar Office Wardha CP, please accept warm regards from Gyanoba Krishnaji Sasane.
Your letter dated 10/03/27 arrived whose written text I have understood. Tatyasaheb’s letter in the Balbodh script (Devanagari) he sent me has been sent to you along with that letter. Tatyasaheb used to write daily expenses in a diary in the Modi script, the handwriting was ordinary, but I don’t have the document in my possession. I received many letters from him, but they are in Raosaheb Govind Kale’s handwriting. My daughter was married to Yashvantrao. Her name was Radhabai. Tatyasaheb had named her ‘Laxmibai’ in his house. Many essays and important documents of Tatyasaheb were sold as scrap by his last daughter-in-law after Yashvantrao’s death. We found that out much later. Also, someone cheated and sold their house for 300 rupees, then another person bought it for 500 rupees, which was not used for Satyashodhak Boarding, but is a shelter for homeless children run by people from Savata Mali community.
(Gyanoba Krishnaji Sasane’s memory has been translated by Sanyogita Dhamdhere, edited by Ninad Pawar and Rucha Satoor, and peer-reviewed by Suraj Thube.)