Jyotirao Govindrao Phule was an Indian social activist, businessman, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including eradication of untouchability and the caste system and for his efforts in educating women and oppressed caste people. He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women's education in India. Phule started his first school for girls in 1848 in Pune at Tatyasaheb Bhide's residence or Bhidewada. He, along with his followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj to attain equal rights for people from lower castes. People from all religions and castes could become a part of this association which worked for the upliftment of the oppressed classes. Phule is regarded as an important figure in the social reform movement in Maharashtra.The honorific Mahātmā, was first applied to him in 1888 at a special program honoring him in Mumbai.
Dalit, also some of them previously known as untouchables, is the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold varna of the caste hierarchy and were seen as forming a fifth varna, also known by the name of Panchama. Several scholars have drawn parallels between Dalits and the Burakumin of Japan, the Baekjeong of Korea and the peasant class of the medieval European feudal system.
Madhubani art is a style of painting practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. It is named after the Madhubani district of Bihar, India, which is where it originated. Jitwarpur and Ranti are the two most notable cities associated with the tradition and evolution of Madhubani art. The art was traditionally practiced by female members of Brahman and Kayastha castes. Artists create these paintings using a variety of mediums, including their own fingers, or twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks. The paint is created using natural dyes and pigments. The paintings are characterized by their eye-catching geometrical patterns. There is ritual content for particular occasions, such as birth or marriage, and festivals, such as Holi, Surya Shasti, Kali Puja, Upanayana, and Durga Puja.
The History of Bihar is one of the most varied in India.Chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record dating from the Neolithic age. Regions of Bihar—such as Magadha, Mithila and Anga—are mentioned in religious texts and epics of ancient India. Mithila is believed to be the centre of Indian power in the Later Vedic period. Mithila first gained prominence after the establishment of the ancient Videha Kingdom. The kings of the Videha were called Janakas. A daughter of one of the Janaks of Mithila, Sita, is mentioned as consort of Lord Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The kingdom later became incorporated into the Vajjika League which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.
Savitribai Phule was one of the first female teachers in India, a social reformer, and poet. Along with her husband, Jyotiba Phule in Maharashtra, she played a vital role in improving women's rights in India. She is considered to be the pioneer of India's feminist movement. She strived to abolish discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender. She and her husband were pioneers of women's education in India. They started their first school for girls in 1848 in Pune at Tatyasaheb Bhide's residence or Bhidewada.
Martin Macwan is a Dalit human rights activist in Gujarat, India.
Gail Omvedt was an American-born Indian sociologist and human rights activist. She was a prolific writer and published numerous books on the anti-caste movement, Dalit politics, and women's struggles in India. Omvedt was involved in Dalit and anti-caste movements, environmental, farmers' and women's movements, especially with rural women.
Hari Narke was an Indian scholar, author, and orator. He was a professor and the head of Chair of Mahatma Jotirao Phule at the University of Pune.
Sharmila Rege was an Indian sociologist, feminist scholar and author of Writing Caste, Writing Gender. She led the Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Women's Studies Centre, at University of Pune which position she occupied since 1991. She received the Malcolm Adiseshiah award for distinguished contribution to development studies from the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) in 2006.
Sudha Varghese, also known as Sister Sudha, is a former religious sister and social worker in India who has devoted herself to the Musahar, the Dalit of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, one of the Scheduled Castes and who are considered the "untouchables". She resides and works in Jamsaut, a village in Patna district. She is sometimes called didi, which means "elder sister".
Bharti Dayal is an Indian artist who specializes in Madhubani art.
Fatima Sheikh was an Indian educator and social reformer, who was a colleague of the social reformers Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule She is widely considered to be India’s first Muslim woman teacher.
Rajni Tilak was one of the most prominent Indian Dalit rights activists and a leading voice of Dalit feminism and writing. She served as the Executive Director of the Centre for Alternative Dalit Media, co-founded the National Association of Dalit Organisations, and served as President of the Dalit Lekhak Sangh.
Somnath Waghmare is an Indian documentary filmmaker based in the state of Maharashtra. His most prominent and most recent film, Battle of Bhima Koregaon, was critically received and screened in India and abroad. Till now, all his films have been documentary films and they have dealt with various social issues like the persecution of women and Dalit assertion in Maharashtra. He made his directorial debut with the short documentary feature I Am Not a Witch (2017). His upcoming films are Chaityabhoomi and Gail and Bharat.
Shantabai Dhanaji Dani (1919–2001) was an Indian Dalit writer, politician, and social worker. She wrote primarily in the Marathi language.
Dulari Devi is an Indian artist and illustrator, working in the Mithila art tradition. In 2021, she was a recipient of the Padma Shri, a civilian honour granted by the Government of India, for her contributions to art.
Karpoori Devi was an Indian folk artist, painting in the Madhubani art tradition and creating textile art in the Sujni tradition. She belonged to an early generation of artists who sold Madhubani art with critical and commercial success, and her work has been archived in collections in India as well as Japan, Australia, and the United States of America.
Sita Devi (1914–2005) was an Indian artist, specializing in painting in the Madhubani tradition. She is one of the most well-known Madhubani artists from India, and was one of the first to receive national recognition for the art form, receiving a number of awards for her work including the Padma Shri in 1981, as well as the Bihar Ratna Samman in 1984. She was influential in activism for local development in her village of Jitwarpur, in the state of Bihar, and taught Madhubani art to local residents, especially women, during her career in an effort to encourage financial stability. Her paintings have been praised for their individual style, particularly their use of color, have been widely exhibited, and are archived in India as well as in museums in France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
