Savitribai Phule and Rani Velu Nachiyar

08.01.2024

Savitribai Phule and Rani Velu Nachiyar , Daily Current Affairs , RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow 

Why in the news? 

Recently, the Prime Minister paid tribute to Savitribai Phule and Rani Velu Nachiyar on their birth anniversary.

Important points:

• Prime Minister Shri Modi said that Savitribai Phule and Rani Velu Nachiyar have inspired the society with their compassion and courage.
• The Prime Minister has also shared some excerpts from Mann Ki Baat, where he has expressed his views about Savitribai Phule and Rani Velu Nachiyar.

About Savitribai Phule:

• Savitribai Phule was born in a Dalit family on January 3, 1831.
• When plague spread in Pune, Savitribai Phule started serving the patients. During this time he contracted plague and died on March 10, 1897.
• Savitribai Phule was born in Nayagaon, a small village in Satara district of Maharashtra.
• When Savitribai Phule was just 9 years old, she was married to 13 year old Jyotirao Phule.
• Savitribai is considered the pioneer of modern Marathi poetry.
• When Savitribai Phule got married, she was illiterate.
  • Seeing Savitribai Phule's dedication in studies, Jyotirao Phule was impressed and decided to teach Savitribai further.
• She is also known as a social worker, poet, philosopher etc.
  • His poems mostly focused on nature, education and abolition of the caste system.
  • When the caste system was at its peak in the country, inter-caste marriages were promoted by them.
• Savitribai Phule is considered to be the first teacher of the country. She, along with her husband, opened the country's first women's school in the year 1848.
  • To become a teacher, he was trained in Ahmednagar and Pune.

Special achievements of Savitribai Phule:

• Savitribai Phule, along with her husband Jyotirao Phule, opened the country's first school for girls in Pune in 1848.
• Savitribai Phule was the headmistress of this school.
• Later, this school was opened to girls of all castes.
• A total of 18 schools were opened in the country by Savitribai Phule and Jyotirao Phule, for this work their contribution was also honored by the British East India Company.
• An ashram for widows was also opened by Savitribai.
• Apart from widows, she also started giving shelter to destitute women, child widows and women abandoned by their families in her ashram.
• Savitribai Phule also taught every woman and girl living in the ashram.
• 'Satyashodhak Samaj' was founded by Savitribai Phule, which conducted marriages without priests and dowry.

Important statements of Savitribai Phule:

• Education opens the door to heaven which gives an opportunity to know oneself.
• Educate your daughter before her marriage, so that she can easily differentiate between good and bad.
• Study to live with self-respect, school is the true jewel of human beings.
• Women are not made only to work at home and fields, they can do better work than men.
• The more you know, the less you're likely to be afraid.

About Rani Velu Nachiyar:

• Rani Velu Nachiyar (3 January 1730 – 25 December 1796) was the queen of the Sivagangai estate.
• Queen Velu Nachiyar ruled Sivagangai for more than 10 years.
• Rani Velu Nachiyar was the first Indian queen to go to war with the East India Company in India (in 1870).
  • Hyder Ali's forces, with the support of feudal lords, the Maruthu Brothers, Dalit commanders and Thandavarayanan Pillai.
  • Hyder Ali helped the queen with 5,000 soldiers and gunpowder weapons.
• Queen Velu Nachiyar was also known by the Tamil people as Veeramangai (brave woman).
• Nachiyar was trained in many methods of warfare, including the use of war match weapons, martial arts such as Valari, Silambam, horse riding and archery.
• Rani was a scholar of many languages and was fluent in languages like French, English and Urdu.
• Queen Velu Nachiyar established the first army of trained women soldiers in the late 1700s, the year with the experiment of the first human bomb.
• A commemorative postage stamp was issued in the name of Rani Velu Nachiyar on 31 December 2008.

     Background:

• Rani Velu Nachiyar was the princess of Ramanathapuram.
• She was the only child of King Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathi and Queen Sakandhimutthal of the Ramnad Empire.
• Queen Velu Nachiyar was married to King Muthu Vaduganatha Periyavudaya Thevar of Sivagangai, with whom she had a daughter.
• After King Muthu Vaduganatha Periyavudaya Thevar was martyred in a battle with EIC troops at Kalayarkoil in 1780, the queen herself joined the conflict.
• In 1790, his daughter Vellaasi succeeded him.
  • The queen had given powers to her daughter along with the Marudu brothers to help her administer the kingdom.
• Velu Nachiyar died of illness on 25 December 1796, a few years after his daughter succeeded him.

                                                                   Source:News on air