****Jyotirao Phule****

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890) was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.
His work extended to many fields including eradication of untouchability and the caste system, women's emancipation and the reform of Hindu family life. In September 1873, Phule, along with his followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj to attain equal rights for peasants and people from lower castes. Phule is regarded as an important figure of the Social Reform Movement in Maharashtra. He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women's education in India. He is most known for his efforts to educate women and the lower castes. He opened the first school for girls in India in August 1848.

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was born into a virtually illiterate family that belonged to the Mali caste of gardeners and vegetable farmers. The original surname of the family had been Gorhay, and they hailed from Katgun, a village in Khatav taluka of Satara District (now in Maharashtra state). Phule's grandfather, Shetiba Gorhay, had settled in Pune and prospered after starting a business of selling flowers, garlands and flower arrangements for religious and social events like weddings. The family owned some farmland as well as a shop in the city. Since Phule's father and two uncles served as florists under the last of the Peshwas, whose patronage they enjoyed, the family came to be known as 'Phule' (flower-man).

Phule's father, Govindrao, carried on the family business along with his brothers. His mother, Chimnabai, died when he was only nine months old, and he had one elder brother. The Mali community did not set many stores by education, and after attending primary school to learn the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, Phule was withdrawn from school. He joined the menfolk of his family at work, both in the shop and the farm. However, a Christian convert from the same Mali caste as Phule recognized his intelligence and persuaded Phule's father to allow Phule to attend the local Scottish Mission's High School run by Murray Mitchell. Jyotirao completed his English schooling in 1847. As per custom, he was married young, at the age of 13, to a girl of his own community, chosen by his father.

The turning point in his life was in 1848 when he attended the wedding of a friend, who was a Brahmin. Phule participated in the customary marriage procession but was later rebuked and insulted by his friend's parents for doing that. They told him that he being from a lower caste should have had the sense to keep away from that ceremony. This incident profoundly affected Phule on the injustice of the caste system. In the same year, he also visited the first girls' school in Ahmadnagar run by Christian missionaries. It was also in 1848 that Young Jyotiba read Thomas Paine's book Rights of Man (1791), and developed a keen sense of social justice. He realised that "lower castes" and women were at a disadvantage in Indian society, and also that education of these sections was vital to their emancipation.By the age of 22, Jotirao Phule had taught his wife and started schools for the untouchables by that time