Question

Gulamgiri was published by ___________.
A) Jyotiba Phule
B) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
C) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
D) B.R. Ambedkar

Answer 1

Hint: Gulamgiri criticises the institution of caste through a 16-part essay and four poetic compositions. It is written in the form of a dialogue between the writer, and a character he calls Dhondiba.

Complete Answer:
Amongst the “low-caste” leaders, Jyotirao Phule was one of the most vocal personalities. He studied in schools set up by Christian missionaries and was born in 1827. While growing up he formed his own ideas about the injustices of caste society. He attacked the Brahmin’s claim that since they were Aryans, they were superior to others. Phule argued that the true children of the country who had lived here from before the coming of the Aryans were subjugated and defeated by the Aryans were foreigners. They then began looking at them as low-caste people or as inferior to them after establishing their dominance.

Phule claimed that in reality, the land belonged to indigenous people, the so-called low castes and that the “upper” castes had no right to their land and power. He proposed that to challenge caste discrimination, Shudras (labouring castes) and Ati Shudras (untouchables) should unite. The Satyashodhak Samaj was an association founded by Phule which propagated caste equality.

Phule wrote a book named Gulamgiri, meaning slavery, in 1873. The American Civil War had been fought around ten years prior to this leading to the end of slavery in America. Phule dedicated his book to all those Americans who had fought to free these slaves, thereby establishing a link between the conditions of the black slaves in America and the “lower” castes in India. Thus, Phule extended his criticism of the caste system to argue against all forms of inequality. He was concerned about the humiliation of the “low” castes, the plight of the upper-caste women, and the miseries of the labourer.

Thus, option (A) is correct.

Note: In the twentieth century, this movement for caste reform was continued by other great Dalit leaders like E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in the south and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in western India.