BHOPAL: Based on the personality and work of social reformer and poet Savitribai Jyotirao Phule, a Hindi play ‘Savitri’, was staged on Monday at Shaheed Bhavan. The play also highlighted the struggle of Phule. The play was staged to mark the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule on January 3.
It is noteworthy here that along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she played an important role in improving women’s rights in India during British rule. Phule along with her husband founded the first women’s school at Bhide Wada in Pune in 1848. She worked very hard to abolish 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.
She worked as both an educational reformer and social reformer, especially for women. She was taught to read and write by her husband, Jyotirao. As one of the very few indigenous literate women of the time, she played a full part in her husband’s social reform movement by becoming a teacher in the schools he started for girls and later for the so called untouchables in Pune. For this task, she had to endure a lot of abuse at the hands of the orthodox society of Pune. The couple were felicitated by the colonial government of Bombay Presidency in 1850s for this work.
Scripted by Devesh Sharma, directed by K.G. Trivedi, the play was presented by 35 artists of city-based theatre group ‘Trikarshi’ nicely.