Mahatma Jotiba Phule

Mahatma Jotiba Govindrao Phule (Marathi: जोतीबा गोविंदराव फुले) (April 11, 1827 — November 28, 1890), also known as Mahatma Jotiba Phule was an activist, thinker, social reformer, writer, philosopher, theologist, scholar, editor and revolutionary from Maharashtra, India in the nineteenth century. Jotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule were the pioneer of women's education in India. His remarkable influence was apparent in fields like education, agriculture, caste system, women and widow upliftment and removal of untouchability. He is most known for his efforts to educate women and the lower castes as well as the masses. He, after educating his wife, opened a school for girls in India in August 1848.

He was assisted in his work by his wife, Savitribai Phule, and together they started the first school for girls in India in 1848, for which he was forced to leave his home. He initiated widow-remarriage and started a home for upper caste widows in 1854, as well as a home for new-born infants to prevent female infanticide. Phule tried to eliminate the stigma of social Untouchability surrounding the lower castes by opening his house and the use of his water-well to the members of the lower castes.
He formed the Satya Shodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) on September 24, 1873, a group whose main aim was to liberate the social Shudra and Untouchables castes from exploitation and oppression.
Phule was a member of the Pune municipality from 1876 to 1882.
Published works
His famous published works are

• Tritiya Ratna, 1855
• Brahmananche Kasab,1869
• Powada : Chatrapati Shivajiraje Bhosle Yancha, [English: Life Of Shivaji, In Poetical Metre],June 1869
• Powada: Vidyakhatyatil Brahman Pantoji, June 1869
• Manav Mahammand (Muhammad) (Abhang)
• Gulamgiri [full name in English: Slavery: In The Civilized British Government Under The Clock Of Brahmanism],1873
• Shetkarayacha Aasud (Cultivator's Whipcord), July 1881
• Satsar Ank 1, June 1885
• Satsar Ank 2, October 1885
• Ishara, October 1885
• Gramjoshya sambhandi jahir kabhar, (1886)
• Satyashodhak Samajokt Mangalashtakasah Sarva Puja-vidhi, 1887
• Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Poostak, April 1889
• Sarvajanic Satya Dharmapustak, 1891
• Akhandadi Kavyarachana
• Asprashyanchi Kaifiyat