Jyotirao Phule, Justice Ranade, Pandita Ramabai and Annie Besant

Jyotirao (Jyotiba) Phule

• From Maharashtra; he worked for equal rights for peasants and the lower castes.
• He first taught his wife, Savitribai Phule, to read. Together they opened a school for girls in Pune in 1848, and he started another girls' school there in 1851.
• The couple worked to educate women, the lower castes and the masses.
• He also worked for widow remarriage.
• In September 1873 he formed the Satya Shodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth). Its aim was to free the lower castes and protect them from exploitation and atrocities.

Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade

• He set up the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and was the leading figure of the Prarthana Samaj, founded in Bombay in 1867.
• Your lesson, and NIOS papers, name Ranade as founder of the Prarthana Samaj and the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha in 1867, so that is the exam answer. Strictly, Dr Atmaram Pandurang started the Prarthana Samaj in 1867, and Ranade joined about 1870 and became its leading figure. The Sabha also dates from 1870.
• The Prarthana Samaj worked to remove caste restrictions and end child marriage, the shaving of widows' heads and the heavy cost of weddings.
• It promoted women's education and widow remarriage.
• Like the Brahmo Samaj, it believed in one God, and condemned idol worship and the domination of priests.
• Ranade brought Indian languages into the university course, making higher education easier for Indians.
• He reformed rigid customs without breaking from India's cultural heritage, and was a founding member of the Indian National Congress.

Pandita Ramabai

• A renowned reformer of Maharashtra who fought for women's rights and spoke against child marriage.
• She started the Arya Mahila Samaj in Pune in 1882 to help women, above all child widows. Your lesson gives 1881, but she moved to Pune only in 1882, after her husband's death.
• She set up homes for young widows deserted or abused by their families: Sharda Sadan, opened in Bombay and soon moved to Pune, and the Mukti Mission at Kedgaon near Pune.
• Sharda Sadan gave housing, education, job training and medical care to widows, orphans and visually challenged people.
• Your lesson dates the Mukti Mission to 1889. Many histories give 1889 for Sharda Sadan and the late 1890s for the Mukti Mission.
• She wrote books on the hard lives of women, child brides and child widows.

Annie Besant and the Theosophical Society

• The Theosophical Society was led by westerners who glorified Indian religion and philosophy and encouraged Indian languages and literature.
• It preached the universal brotherhood of humankind. It gave Indians pride and self-confidence, and so helped their political awakening.
• Annie Besant first came to India in 1893 and became the Society's President in 1907.
• She founded the Central Hindu College at Banaras, where students studied religious texts along with modern science, to build new leaders for India.
• The college became part of the Banaras Hindu University from 1917.

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