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Savitribai Phule, India’s first woman teacher, died on March 10, 1897, from the bubonic plague. She founded India’s first girls’ school and fought casteism, patriarchy, and child marriage.
Savitribai Phule spoke about the need for education for girls. (Image: Shutterstock)
Savitribai Phule Death Anniversary 2025: Regarded as India’s first woman teacher and feminist icon, Savitribai Phule played a vital role in the social reform movement, particularly in Maharashtra. She dedicated her life to women’s rights and education and founded the first girls’ school in India along with her husband, Jyotirao. The educationist and poetess also fought against casteism, patriarchy, discrimination, caste atrocities, and child marriage and spoke about the need for education for girls.
Her impactful dedication and legacy towards lifting women through education left an unforgettable imprint on India’s historical records and continues to inspire millions today.
On her 128th death anniversary, let’s know how she passed away and some significant facts about the social reformer, thinker and activist:
Savitribai Phule Death Anniversary: How Did She Die?
India’s first female teacher, Savitribai Phule, breathed her last on March 10, 1897. She died at the age of 66 after contracting the third pandemic of the bubonic plague from a 10-year-old boy she was trying to save.
Though the boy survived, Phule couldn’t recover from the disease. For those unaware, bubonic plague is a bacterial infection that causes swollen lymph nodes, chills, fever, and headache.
Savitribai Phule Death Anniversary: 10 Facts About The First Woman Teacher In India
- Born on January 3, 1831, in Maharashtra’s Naigaon village, Savitribai was married at the age of 9 to her husband, Jyotirao Phule, who was 13 at the time.
- Known as the country’s first revolutionary feminist, Savitribai learnt reading and writing and soon started teaching girls in Pune’s Maharwada with Sagunabai, her husband Jyotirao’s mentor.
- Along with her husband, Savitribai started India’s first school for girls at Bhide Wada in 1848.Only nine students were on the rolls, and she used to offer stipends to encourage students to complete their education.
- Despite facing ostracism from her community, Savitribai opened 18 more such schools with her husband, with a focus on providing education to all women.
- She was one of the first modern Indian feminists who organised a barbers’ strike in Mumbai and Pune to protest against widows shaving their heads.
- In 1863, Savitribai founded the first-ever infanticide prohibition home in India called Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha along with her husband to help pregnant Brahmin widows and rape victims deliver children.
- Savitribai was also a poet, and she wrote two books – Kavya Phule in 1854 and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1892.
- Phule also fought against dowry and other social evils that hindered women’s empowerment. She also founded the Satyashodhak Samaj to organise marriages, especially inter-caste, without priests and dowry.
- Another initiative Savitribai Phule actively campaigned against was social evils such as untouchability and the caste system. She even installed a well in her own house for those considered to be ‘untouchable’.
- In 1897, Savitribai opened a clinic to treat those affected by the Third Pandemic of the bubonic plague in Pune. She contracted the disease while serving a plague patient.
